The Lord of the Digivices
by Anime obsessed fan
Summary: Hello, its my first story here, so, I decided to make a Digimon version of the Lord of the Rings! Please review, I need the help. Rukato, LeeJuri, and Taiora. I'm still thinking about the other couples.
1. Book I:Discovery

Disclaimer: Don't own Digimon.  Though I wish I did.  Then all my favorite couples would become official.  But, since this isn't a perfect world, onto-

Rika: Come on, move it, we don't have all night.  And we've got another fanfic to do tomorrow at the crack of dawn.

BlackTerriermon: Yeah, and later tonight she has to meet Takato at that restaurant and then go see a movie, go to his place, and then-

Rika: Die rabbit!!!

Okay, while Rika tries to kill BlackTerriermon again, I would just like to mention that I've been reading too many Rukato fics, with Rika and BlackTerriermon disclaimers.  Oh well, they can't be worse than the Greymon roaming around my head, blowing up stuff.  Also, please review!!!!!!!

This fic takes a lot of things from Lord of the Rings, like parts of the plot, battles, history, races, that sort of things, but only some.  It isn't a complete adaptation, I'm just using a lot of things.  Some of the characters I've placed into some roles from the books don't really fit, but I've modified those roles a lot.  Also, I draw on both the books and the movies, including the upcoming one.  I haven't memorized the opening lines (yet) so I'm just making this up.

BlackTerriermon: (pops his head in again) Doesn't everybody do that?

Me: Rika, he's over here!

Rika comes running back in, chainsaw revving, and chases a screaming BlackTerriermon out again.

I've also 'borrowed' stuff from Digimon 01, 02, Tamers, and Frontier.  This is my first fic, so please be merciful with the criticism, and I may revise this later, as time allows.  Heard of heaven on earth?  School is hell on earth.

The Lord of the Digivices

Part 1: The Fellowship of the Digivice

Long, long ago, many Digivices were forged in the great fires of the Second Age.

***

A giant mountain, filled with lava, is filled with shadowed workers.  As one of them finishes pounding on his anvil, he picks up the finishes product with tongs, and dunks it into a barrel of water.

After the steam clears, he takes the creation in his hand, and it is shown to be a white Digivice.

***

Digivices had always been a part of everybody's life, with every human partnered with a Digimon, and receiving a Digivice at birth from a Digi-gnome, the representatives of the Four Holy Beasts.  But it wasn't till the end of the Second Age that they became weapons, and were melted down and rebuilt into tools of wars.

The great lords of the time each recreated his or her Digivices to become more powerful, some to conquer, some to protect.

Twenty Digivices of Power were forged, each a different model, for the races.  Each could be given to a wild Digimon, untamed, and it would greatly enhance its power, or could also increase the bond of a human and Digimon to phenomenal levels, beyond what anyone had ever thought possible.

Three were forged by the Elf Lords, Gennai, Seika, and Shibumi, fair and immortal, the benevolent rulers of the Elves.

Seven for the Techno-Mages, masters of metal and computers.

Nine more were given to outcast Digimon seeking power, all partnerless.

But the One Master Digivice was forged deep in the Reaper Mountain, in the Reaper Zone at the core of the mountain, where the laws of physics didn't necessarily apply.

Lucemon, fallen in thought, though not yet in appearance, had learned the secrets of the Digivices, and then made one for himself, bonded to his life and power.  With it, his own power was amplified far beyond what a Rookie's power should ever be.

The moment the One Digivice was awakened, all the High Digivices knew of it, and knew they had been betrayed.

The Nine Wild Ones flocked to Lucemon's power, seeking dominion, but eventually themselves being enslaved by the One Digivice.

Only the Three Elven Lords openly declared war on Lucemon, and allied themselves with many Digimon and Digidestined.

The final battle of the Alliance of Man and Elf took place at the foot of Reaper Mountain.

Lucemon's legions of ADRs, spawned from the Reaper Zone, and wild Digimon clashed with the combined army of empowered humans, Digimon, and Elves.  The battle tide rose and fell between the two armies, until Lucemon took the field himself.

With his raw power, combined with his Master Digivice, he swept away whole battalions of men and Digimon single-handedly.

Ancient Greymon and Ancient Garurumon, two Ancient Digimon, Rulers of the Elements, had sided with the humans, then charged to the front of the lines, and challenged Lucemon.

Their battle raged for many hours, but in the end, both fell before Lucemon.

But Lucemon was nearly dead from the combined efforts of Ancient Greymon and Ancient Garurumon, and so the greatest human warrior of the day, Taichi, advanced on Lucemon, and severed his hand from his body, while still clutching his Digivice.

Alas, Taichi did not cast the One Digivice back into the Reaper Zone, as the Digidestined and Elves counseled, deciding to instead take it as a token of their victory, and perhaps someday to purify it.

He handed it off to Cherubimon, Ophanimon, and Seraphimon, the Three Great Angels, hoping they could still purify it somehow.  Shortly afterward, Taichi disappeared from history.

On the journey back to Rivendell, the Three Great Angels were ambushed by Skullgreymons and MetalTyrannomons still loyal to Lucemon.

Already weary from the battle, the bandits pushed the angels against the river, and then, when they tried to escape to the air, focused on Cherubimon, who still had the One Digivice.

Cherubimon fell to his death in the Great River, and the One Digivice was lost in its deep waters.

So the Digivice disappeared from history until many years later, yet still centuries ago, a Digimon found, and beheld it as a 'birthday' present.

The One Digivice's power was too much for the Digimon, Keramon, and drove him insane.  In his insanity, he fled to the depths of the mountains, away from the sun and the rest of the world.

Under the Kyoto Mountains, he whispered to himself and the Digivice for a long time, until, almost by chance, the human Takehiro Matsuda, on a quest with several techno-mages, fell into Keramon's hole, and found the Digivice on the ground, where Keramon had thrown it after a fit of rage.

The Digivice, dormant after the long darkness under the Mountains, did not activate fully when Takehiro picked it up.  Instead, only its invisibility cloak had activated, a most excellent aid for the foundling thief who had been summarily drafted by Davis the Black.

Takehiro continued on with the technomages, until they fought and won against Dragomon, in the Lonely Mountain.

Afterwards, Takehiro returned back to Shinjuku, married and settled down.  He and his wife died in a boating accident in Shinjuku, but before he died, he had given the Digivice he had found on his journey to his young son.

Takato had been one of the few rare humans who didn't have a Digivice and Digimon come to him when he had been born, so he had been desperate for a Digivice, and had begged his father for his extra one until he had relented.

After his parent's death, Takato had been desolate, and, needing a friend, had slid a drawing he had made of his imaginary Digimon through his Digivice.

The next morning, Takato had been overjoyed to find his very own, personally created Digimon beside him.  His friends and family had took the appearance of Guilmon as a freak accident, or a late arrival.

Takato didn't care about that, all he knew was that he had a friend, and a Digivice, though it was

different from everybody else'

And so, our story starts with the arrival of Davis the Black, the wandering human, to check up on 

the son of his old friend…

***

Davis looked like any ordinary human, though his Digimon was far from ordinary.  Veemons were extremely rare, and as far as it was known, his was the only one in existence actually.

At the moment though, Veemon wasn't a Veemon, as Davis had Armor Digivolved Veemon to Raidramon to get to Shinjuku quicker.  Also, it was much cheaper than finding a horse, or renting a car.

He looked around the countryside, smiling.  It had been far too long since he had been here, and it was just time for another vacation.

"Hey Raidramon, pick up the pace, you don't want us to miss lunchtime at Takato's right?" he asked, nudging his Digimon a little.

"Davis, this is Shinjuku, in Hobbiton.  Everybody have almost six meals a day, so we're bound to arrive at one of them."

"Good point," agreed Davis, "but I'm getting a bit saddle sore after that last two hours of riding."

"How do you think it feels for the horse?" Raidramon shot back, making both of them laugh.

"Well, I guess I don't mind walking the rest of the way," Davis said, and jumped off his Digimon and held up his Digivice, as a blue light shot from Raidramon back into his Digivice, and leaving Veemon standing beside him.  Aside from having a near legendary Veemon as a partner, his Digivice was also different from the norm, having blue outlines, and a square screen, along with several more uses than the plain white one.

Veemon stretched.  "Ah, that's better.  But Davis, what's with the big rush back here anyway?  You haven't been here since Takehiro's funeral."

"Well, I just decided that I needed a vacation, and Shinjuku is as good a place as any," Davis said, waving at the green fields.

"Yeah, and they've got tons of food too!" Veemon said, temporarily getting starry-eyes, before returning to normal.  "But this doesn't have anything to do with that last visit with Kari?"

Davis blushed.  "It wasn't anything like that!"

"Ssssuuurrreee…"

Davis sobered up quickly though, which worried Veemon somewhat.  Davis only got serious when something big was going on.  "Kari called me in because she said that she had a vision, of fire, and battle, and she said that she saw Shinjuku, and lots of other stuff, but here is the kicker- she said she saw the One."

Veemon stiffened.  There was no need to ask which "One" Davis was talking about.  "And she saw it in Shinjuku?"

"Yeah," Davis nodded, "and since I'm happened to be one of the closest traveling Digidestined at that moment, and since I'd been here before, she asked me to check on it."

"Do you have any idea where to start looking?" Veemon asked.

"Well, before we left, Yolei modified my D-3 here to search for the specific energy signature of the One, and she said, and I quote 'even you can't mess it up from that point!'"

Veemon laughed at Davis' impersonation, but stopped when the D-3 began beeping.  "Well, that was fast."

Davis' eyes narrowed.  "A little too fast.  Let's see, according to the map, the One should be right around…"

"Davis!"

Davis looked up before he could figure out where the signal was coming from, as he was tackled by a boy, wearing goggles, just like himself, though Takato's goggles were yellow and round, while Davis' were black and rectangular.

Davis smiled as the younger boy Takato hugged him like an old friend- which he was was.

"Hey Takato, how've you been?" he asked, managed to separate the two goggleboys.

"Fine, Davis," Takato said as he stepped back and looked at Davis.  "Man, you still look almost exactly the same as the last time I saw you!"  
  


Davis laughed nervously.  "I just eat lots of vitamins.  But you have sure gotten taller.  How have you been getting along?"

"Well, you see, just after you left, I actually got a Digimon partner!"

Davis blinked.  "What?"

"Yep!" Takato said happily.  "His name's Guilmon, and he even came with a special Digivice!"  _Though it should probably be more like the Digivice brought him here._

Davis' eyebrows raised.  "Special Digivice?"

"Yeah," Takato said, reaching down towards his belt, and unclipping it.  "It's the one Dad brought back from that trip with you.  Since I didn't have one, he gave it to me, and that invisible thing it does is really handy."

Davis took the Digivice from Davis and examined it.  It was definitely different, Davis saw, different even from his own model, with a round screen, surrounded by a red strip of metal, and red highlights against a white base.

"So how did you get your Digimon again?" Davis asked, handing it back to Takato, trying to ignore the bad feeling he had in the pit of his stomach.

"Well, I guess I can tell you the truth," Takato said, slightly embarrassed.  "You see that slot here?  Well, I don't know what its for, but anyway, you remember those drawings I showed you?  Well, I basically jammed them through the slot, and then, overnight, Guilmon was born."

Davis blinked.  "That has to be one of the weirdest stories I've ever heard.  Though it doesn't sound impossible."

Takato smiled.  "Yeah, it does sound weird.  When I tired to tell Kazu and Kenta, well, they laughed their heads off."

"Sounds like those two," Davis agreed, as they entered Takato's modest, two story home.  Though Takato wasn't a millionaire, his father had brought back a hefty sum from his adventure, and had left most of it to Takato, so Takato actually didn't need to work at all.

"Where is Guilmon anyway?" Davis asked, looking around the small house.

"In the kitchen," Takato said ruefully.  "He has this insane obsession with bread of all things.  I spend half my money on making sure that he always has some lying around."

But Davis saw that though Takato complained, he still cared deeply for Guilmon, quite enough to make up for Guilmon's flaws.  Besides, Takato was one of the few people who understood the pain of _not having a Digimon, so he could really appreciate having a Digimon around._

As they entered the kitchen, Davis saw a large red dino, almost as tall as either men, and was munching happily on a piece of bread.

"Guilmon, this is Davis," Takato said, pointing at Davis.

Guilmon put down the bread, and walked over to sniff at Davis.  "Davismon?"

Davis nearly fell over at that.  "Davismon?!"

Takato rubbed a hand behind his head in an embarrassed manner.  "Well, he calls almost everybody a 'mon at first.  Don't worry, he'll get over it."

"Takatomon, he smells funny," Guilmon said, sniffing a very uncomfortable Veemon.

"Well, almost always gets over it," Takato said.  "Anyway, its about time for second lunch.  Want to join me?"

"Sure, just let me wash up," Davis said.  "Which way was the bathroom again?"

"Down the hall, last door on the left," Takato said pointing.  "You can leave your stuff on the second door on the right.  I've got tons of guest rooms so I don't mind."

"Thanks," Davis said, walking off down the hall, Veemon following.  After rinsing his face, Davis stepped into his temporary room, and pulled out his D-Terminal and D-3 again.

"Now where was that signal again?" Davis asked as he poked at buttons on his Digivice.  "Wait a second, looks like there it is- ten feet away?!"

He looked at the wall, and heard Takato chatting with Guilmon.  "No, that's impossible.  I mean, the One Digivice was just supposed to make a Digimon super-powerful, not bond with a human and create a Digimon!"

Davis frowned down at the display.  "And besides, the signal looks almost the same, but it still looks different.  That's it, I'm calling up Yolei."

Davis tapped a number into the keypad on the back of his D-Terminal, and there a beep, until Yolei's face appeared on the small screen.

"What is it Davis?" she asked tensely.  "Did you find it?"

"Well, yes, and no," Davis said.

"What do you mean yes and no?!" Yolei shouted through the link, and Davis winced at the volume of her voice even through the tiny speaker.  "There's not more than one Master Digivice, you know!  That's why they call it the 'One'!"

"Well yeah, but remember this kid called Takato I told you about?"

"Yeah, son of that other guy you dragged along with you to take on Dragomon."

"Well, he was born without a Digivice, so his father gave him this other Digivice that he found on the way to Dragomon, and apparently, somehow he used it to create his own Digimon."

Yolei blinked, and just stared at Davis for a few seconds.  "Let me get this straight.  This other guy just happened to find this unusual Digivice lying in the mud somewhere, gave it to his son, it made a Digimon, and it looks like the One Master, and you didn't bother to tell us?!"

"No, that's the thing, its red and white, not black.  Actually, it looks more like one of the Elvish ones.  And the signal doesn't match exactly."

Yolei lowered her head for a moment, thinking, when another person pushed her aside.

Davis' face lit up.  "Kari!"

"Hey Davis," she greeted.  "Davis, this is very important.  You have your Digi-Armors with you, right?"

"Yeah, how do you think I got here so fast?  That I just rode a horse?" Davis asked sarcastically.

"Get Flamedramon to hold that D-Arc, and I want him to roast for a minute."

"Won't that probably destroy it?" Davis asked.

"If its what we suspect, the amount of power need to destroy it would probably level everything around you for miles around, so a little attack from an Armor Digimon shouldn't hurt it at all."

"If you say so," Davis said, nodding, "but I hope that if we're wrong, it doesn't destroy it.  This kid really loves his Digimon."

Kari was still grim.  "If we're right, I don't see how he's still sane in the first place."

"Some humans are possibly the most strong in mind of the three races," Davis remarked.  "His father sure went far beyond my expectations.  Alright, I'll go roast that D-Arc, and hope that it melts."

"I think its too late for that," Kari said, nodding once before the screen shut off.

Davis walked back out of the room, and back to the kitchen, where Takato had already set out some food.

"Hey Takato, mind if I borrow your Digivice for a moment?" Davis asked, pointing at Takato's belt.

Takato looked puzzled, but complied.

Davis walked into the living room, where there was an empty fireplace as it was the middle of a quite warm day.

Davis handed the Digivice to Veemon, who walked over to the empty fireplace.  Davis held up his D-3 and shouted "Digi-Armor Energize!"

In a flash of red, Veemon Armor Digivolved to Flamedramon.

"What's going on?" Takato shouted when he ran in at the giant burst of light.

"Takato, this is important, very important," Davis said solemnly.  "Don't worry, this won't hurt anyone.  This is just a test.  Flamedramon, do it!"

The Dramon nodded and then stuck the claw holding Takato's Digivice into the fireplace, and then it ignited into a blaze so hot, that Takato had to shield himself from the heat, the rest of the he

"What are you doing?!" he shouted as he watched his beloved Digivice burn, but Davis held out a hand, and stopped Takato.

After a minute, Flamedramon extinguished his flame and brought the Digivice back into the house.

Davis took out his D-Terminal and set it out on a coffee table, and then a small holographic image of Yolei appeared above it.

"Well, how does it look?" he asked the hologram.

"Idiot, you have to bring it closer for the scanner to work!" she shouted at Davis, and he winced even though the voice was still coming through the tiny speaker.

Flamedramon couldn't' help but smirk a bit, as he moved closer to the D-Terminal, and a scanning laser came out of one end, and moved over the the D-Arc slowly.  As Flamedramon turned the Digivice around for the scanner to look at, he noticed a lot of Digital symbols rising up from it.

"Damn," she muttered, as she looked at an unseen screen.  "Its not even warm at all, it completely deflected the heat…"

"So it's the One?" Davis warily.

"Yeah, and its already at 60% of full power," Yolei reported.  "Another year or two, and, well, we wouldn't be around to be talking about it."

"Hey guys, what are you talking about?" Takato asked, getting a bit annoyed at them ignoring him.

Davis glanced at him for just a moment before he turned back to Yolei.  "So, what should I do now?  Try to see if Imperialdramon's attack will destroy it?"

"Destroy it?!" Takato cried, realizing they were talking about his Digivice, but Flamedramon held him back, and he just growled.  He had heard the rumors about Davis, but hadn't really believed them up until now…

"Imperialdramon might be able to destroy it, but not without leveling most of the countryside," Yolei said.  "Come back to Isengard immediately.  We've got major trouble, Lucemon is already mobilizing his forces.  Take it with you, we might be able to come up with something here."

"Well, there's a slight problem with that," Davis said.  "Like I said earlier, its _bonded with Takato.  It is an actual Digivice now, and its linked to him.  I can't take it from him without some major trouble."_

"Fine, leave him there," Yolei snapped.  "Its not like the Dark Masters are going to be poking around in Shinjuku of all places.  But don't use Imperialdramon to travel, a giant Mega level dragon would be far too obvious.  Just use X-Veemon and get here fast!"

The image blinked out, leaving Davis scowling.  He had been hoping for a vacation, but from Yolei's tone…

"Will somebody tell me what is going on!!" Takato demanded.  "And what about my Digivice?"

Davis collapsed into a chair.  He sighed again.  He hated having to thrust Takato into this, but if it was his destiny to have this One Digivce…

"Takato, sit down, I've got his little story to tell you, and I don't have a lot of time," Davis said in an uncharacteristically serious voice.

Takato, surprised by the tone of Davis' voice, sat down in another arm chair.

"To make a _very long story short, you've heard of legendary super-powerful Digivices right?" Davis started.  "Digivices that the Elf lords and such used, along with Mega Digimon partners?"  
  
_

"Yeah," Takato said, nodding.  "They were always some of my favorite stories, with all those battles, and cool Digimon…"

"Well, there was one really bad one, called Lucemon, heard of him?" Davis asked, and got a shudder in response.  The name Lucemon was still almost as swear word these days.

"Yeah, big bad guy, and got killed a long time ago right?"

"Wrong.  Basically, there were two reasons why he was so powerful.  One, he was a fallen angel, and those are never Digimon you want to tangle with.  Two, he made his own Digivice, and that boosted his power a _lot._

"But, 3,000 years ago, he fought against all the rulers of Middle-Earth and nearly won, until two Digimon, Ancient Greymon and Ancient Garurumon, fought him, and just about killed him, and took his Digivice away from him.  The problem is that they died doing it, and somebody else picked up the Digivice and didn't blow it up then and there.  On the way home, that Digivice got lost along the way, and ended up with another Digimon called Bokomon, who took it deep under the mountains for a long time."

"Wait," Takato said, realization dawning.  "You can't mean that my Digivice, the one my dad brought back, is the big head one?!"

"Yes it is.  You see that writing there?" Davis pointed at the faintly glowing writing on the Digivice, and Flamedramon handed it back to Takato, who winced, thinking he was going to burn his hand, but it wasn't even hot.

"That another thing about Digivices of Power," Davis said dryly.  "They're very, very, _very durable.  It would take at least an Ultimate Digimon to dent it."_

"What does it say?" Takato asked, peering at it closely.

"Don't ask me, I'm not the expert on stuff like that," Davis said, shrugging, "but it worried Yolei and I trust her."

"Who's Yolei anyway?" Takato asked curiously.  

"Just a friend of mine," Davis replied casually, eyes daring Takato to say anything more.  Takato was too busy examining his Digivice to care.

"Anyway, basically, I have no idea why it works for you, but still, I've got to go talk to some other friends of mine about it."

"Why do you want to destroy it?" Takato asked, as he clung to the Digivice protectively.  "Its harmless!"

"Now, yeah, but you haven't seen it in action," Davis said, eyes glazing over for a moment, before returning to the present.  "But for now, don't use it to make yourself invisible.  I know its fun, but _don't!  I'll explain later, but the normal stuff, like the analyzer is fine._

"I've got to go now, but I want you to go to Bree, to the Chinese Restaurant/Inn.  The Digitamamon owner knows me, so just wait there.  I should be back from my friends by the time it takes you get there.  Don't travel by night, and if you see any strange Digimon, run!  Guilmon can digivolve right?"

"Yeah, to his Champion form Growlmon, but I haven't finished designing his Ultimate level form yet," Takato said.

Davis blinked.  "Designing?"

"Well, when I created him, I forgot to make up his higher levels, much less his lower levels!" Takato said defensively.

"Well, I guess that makes sense," Davis said, rubbing his head, "but you should be oka-"

Davis stopped when he heard a noise in the hall, and motioned Flamedramon forward, who crouched for a moment, and then lunged forward into the darkened hallway.

His claws met a sword, and another figure walked into the sunlight.

Takato blinked.  "Leomon?  But that means Jeri-"

A sock puppet, vaguely resembling a dog, poked its head in.  "Ruff, sorry Takato, the door was open, and we walked in, and heard you had company and well…"

"Come on in," Takato greeted, and the brown-haired girl, along with her partner Leomon, stepped into the room, though Leomon had to hunch over significantly.  He eyed Flamedramon slightly.

Davis and Flamedramon actually looked sheepish.  "Sorry about that, we're a bit paranoid."  
  
"Well, after all that talk of the Digivices of Power, I don't blame you," Leomon agreed, sheathing his blade again.

Davis glanced at him sharply.  "How much did you hear?"

"Well, from somewhere around 'long story,'" Jeri said.  "And I can't let Takato go all alone!  He hasn't even been outside of Shinjuku once!"

Takato groaned and slapped his head.  "Jeri!"

Suddenly, they all heard snickering from outside the window.

Jeri frowned.  "Five dollars says its Kazu and Kenta.  Leomon?"

Leomon complied with her request and quickly stride over to the window, and reached outside it, and pulled in two more boys, one wearing a visor and black t-shirt, the other an orange t-shirt and gray jacket.

"Hey, heel, sit down, something, just let us go!" Kazu protested as he tried to get the lion Digimon to put him down.  "Guardromon, give us a hand, will you?!"

A brown metal object flew in through the window, which Kazu caught, and saw that it was Guardromon's right hand.

"Ah, Kazu, can I have that hand back?  I need it, you know."

Kazu hit himself over the head with the detached hand, and then tossed it back out the window, where Guardromon caught it and screwed it back in.

"Let me guess, you heard it from 'long story' right?" Davis asked groaning, before getting an idea.  "Wait, Takato, you're good friends with these three right?"

"Yeah," Takato answered hesitantly.

"Then they'll make excellent traveling companions!" Davis said, looking as if he had just come up with the most brilliant idea since Digimon cards.

Everybody's mouths fell open.  "WHAT?!"

***

"I still don't see why we have to go," Kazu grumbled as he and Kenta shouldered filled backpacks.

Takato was busy stuffing several knapsacks full of bread, as Guilmon needed his daily amount of bread.

Jeri was packing relatively lightly, and had already left a call at her house's answering machine in case her father and stepmother visited her.  She was already a grown lady so she didn't have to tell them everywhere she went.

Kazu and Kenta, luckily, were able to drop everything and go, as they didn't really have any obligations to attend to anyway.

Davis was already up on Raidramon, and was quickly giving Takato a few quick instructions.

"I'll see you in Bree at Digitamamon's place.  You should be safe there.  And don't use your real name.  I'll explain why later, but just use something, like, Underhill, or something.  And whatever happens, do not show that Digivice to random people."

Davis hesitated for a moment, before continuing, "Oh yeah, you noticed that your Digivice is different from everybody else's right?  Well, that model is called a D-Arc, because it contains more information than the other two models.

"Takato, the four of you should be safe here in Shinjuku.  And you know the slot along the side of your D-Arc?  You can slide your Digimon cards through it, and use it to help power up Guilmon, and stuff.  It works just like the card game, so it should be very useful.  Good luck Takato"

And with those words, Davis the Black, Digidestined, nudged his Digimon mount, and then sped away like a big gust of wind.

Takato stared after Davis wistfully for a moment, and then nodded resolutely.  He still wasn't quite sure of all of Davis' big talk of danger and monsters, but still, he remembered just yesterday he had been wishing for an adventure like his father, and here one was!

"So chumley, you ready to leave on your grand quest?" Kazu asked, stepping up next to him.

Takato nodded enthusiastically.  "Just like dad!  This should be fun."

Jeri looked a bit more concerned.  "I just hope nothing really big happens to us."

And with those words, the foursome started on their journey, that would eventually be recorded as the start of the greatest quest of all time.

***

Once out of Shinjuku, Davis and Veemon switched to relatively low speed flying when they hit the Kyoto Mountains, after Veemon had digivolved to his Champion form, X-Veemon.

After that, they headed east to Isengard, the stronghold of Kari the White, the Digidestined of Light.

As X-Veemon glided over the valley, he noticed that there was already a lot of activity going on.  "Wow, never knew Kari had already organized an army," Davis marveled at all the Digimon below him.

 The two landed right in front of Isengard, where Kari stepped out to greet him.

"Hey Davis, how was your visit to Shinjuku?" Kari asked, smiling at him.

Davis couldn't help but blush a bit at her smile, but quickly got back to business.  "Not good, its definitely the One Digivice, but I still have no idea how Takato connected with it and created Guilmon."

Kari smiled again.  "Don't worry, we've figured out some more stuff.  Why don't we take a walk though the gardens?"

Davis smiled at an opportunity to be alone with Kari, without anybody else around.

"The hour is very late, but still, this Age has some life left in it," Kari mused as they strode through the gardens.

"Yeah," Davis agreed.  "But hopefully this Age won't end with another huge battle that takes out half of the Digimon and humans lying around."

"Yes, and even without it, Lucemon is still very strong, even though he can't fight personally.  His lieutenants have already left the Rose Star Castle, and have probably past through Odaiba and Shibuya already."

They had already reentered the tower of Isengard and rode an elevator to the top of the tower.

Davis gasped.  "What?!  Then I've to go now!  Forget stealth, I've got to go to pick up Takato with Imperialdramon now!"

"Too late for that," Kari said, smiling sinisterly at him.

Davis gulped as he backed out of the elevator into the throne room of Isengard.  "Uh Kari, are you feeling okay?"

"Never better," she said as she followed him out.  "But let's just say I've had a revelation recently about the way things should be."

Davis didn't like the evil smile Kari was wearing at the moment.  "Uh, does that mean you've realized that you should ditch TK and marry me?" he asked nervously.

"Forget TK, but I think my new enforcer doesn't like you dissing angels," Kari said, looking at something behind Davis.

Davis whirled around and saw - "What the hell happened to Seraphimon?!?"

"New and improved BlackSeraphimon," Kari said, giving him a smirk.  The formerly blue and golden armor of Seraphimon had been altered significantly, replaced with a stale white the predominant color now, and eight black bat wings on the back, along with a crooked cross on his helmet.

Davis suddenly noticed something.  "Uh Kari, what's that mark on your neck?"  
  


"Dark Seeds implantation," answered another dark voice, and Davis yelped when out of the shadows appeared a tall vampiric Digimon.

"Myotismon!" Davis spat.  "So, I'm surprised you're still around, after that trashing Tai gave you awhile ago."

"Well, it was quite painful," Myotismon said, bearing his fangs for a moment, "but I think that recruiting your most powerful warrior over to our side is sufficient payback."

"What did you do to them?" Davis demanded as he stared at the glowing red eyes of Kari as she came to stand next to the undead vampire Digimon.

"Dark Seeds are such wonderful things," Myotismon commented, advancing on Davis, with Kari backing him up.  "I was thinking of using them on Ichijoji but instead decided that just using them to brainwash the Digidestined of Light would be better."

Davis raised his Digivice, but suddenly noticed the black stone surrounding him.  "Control Spire material?!  You actually made it?!?"

"Well, Yolei did, under my orders," Kari said, gesturing around, showing the digivolving-restricting material.  "Of course, I said it was to prevent lord Myotismon from digivolving to his Mega forms, but still, it would serve as a very useful prison for you too."

"What happened to Yolei anyway?" Davis asked, backing up.  He knew the limitations of the Control Spires, and that they weren't that strong, but it would still take quite a beating, and without a Champion Digimon…

"I sent her out on a fool's errand to go scout some random territory," Kari said, and for just a moment, Davis thought he saw a glimmer of light in those now pitch black eyes before it disappeared.  "And this valley is now filled with Dark Ring controlled Digimon, so I'd think she have a hard time getting back in."

Davis glanced, around, and let his hand drift down to his pocket.  "If you think I'm going to give up without a fight, then you have really _have lost your mind, Kari."_

"How?" she asked smirking.  "No digivolving, and a Mega Digimon ready to back me up," she said gesturing at BlackSeraphimon.  "But if you're really in the mood to rumble…"

Kari snapped her fingers, and BlackSeraphimon stepped forward, looking quite ominous.  "Seraphimon was captured centuries ago by Lucemon, but it wasn't until I got a chance with him that we could corrupt him completely.  I daresay he's more powerful than TK's Seraphimon by now."

"Well, don't count your angels till they've hatched," Davis said, grabbing his D-3 and holding it up.  "Golden Armor Energize!!"  
  


Kari and Myotismon shielded their eyes as the D-3 surged with power and holy light started pouring out of it.

"What is this?" Myotismon demanded to know, as he staggered towards a corner.  So much holy energy and light was seriously damaging to him.  "I thought you said that the Control Spires prevented digivolution!"

"Veemon Golden Armor Digivolve to-"

"But not Armor Digivolution!" Davis shouted triumphantly.  "And I'd like to see the Digimon that can tangle with-"

"Magnamon!"

"I leave this to you, Kari," Myotismon said, as he shattered a window, and flew out as a swarm of bats.  He had overseen the 'rehabilitation' of Seraphimon himself, and even in his higher forms he knew he would have trouble with the fallen angel.

Back inside the chamber, the extreme amount of energy shattered the walls, and stopped the signal coming from them, and also blew off the roof, leaving the throne room bare to the elements.

BlackSeraphimon advanced on the glowing Magnamon as he floated there, and abruptly the golden light stopped, leaving the Holy Knight there.

"Attack!" Kari ordered, pointing at Magnamon, and the brainwashed Seraphimon quickly complied.

With naught a sound, BlackSeraphimon flew forward and rammed Magnamon, sending both of them flying off the tower.

"So looks like it's just the two of us now," Davis said, giving a savage grin as he brought up a staff that had suddenly appeared in his hand.  A black jewel at the top glowed with power, and briefly two symbols flashed in it.

"You don't have the power to stop me," Kari said, summoning her own staff from the ruins of the next room.  "I offer you one last chance to join us.  Lucemon was once good, and there still remains some purity in him.  If he kills us all, he will just become a tyrant, and rule over all of Middle-Earth.  But if we join with him, we can curb his power somewhat, look after the best interests of the little people, share in Lucemon's restored power once he has retrieved the Hazard Digivice."

"If you were in your right mind Kari, you would be choking yourself about now," Davis retorted.  "The Hazard Digivice can only be wielded by one, and Lucemon doesn't like sharing his toys, or so I've heard."

"Then DIE!" Kari shouted as she thrust her staff forward and sent a burst of white energy at Davis.

Davis quickly formed a bubble of blue energy, and flew down the side of the tower, dodging Kari's blast.

"Magna Blast!" Magnamon shouted as his armor showered gold blasts of energy at BlackSeraphimon.

But BlackSeraphimon held a hand up, and a shield formed around him deflected the golden blasts of energy.

But Magnamon was already attacking again, with a cry of "Magna Punch!" and shattered the barrier and slammed his fist into BlackSeraphimon's face sending the Mega reeling back.

BlackSeraphimon recovered quickly though, and held his hands cupped together, and shouted "Seven Hells!"

Magnamon quickly swerved to the right, but the attack still nicked his shoulder, leaving it smoking.

BlackSeraphimon flew forward, and grabbed Magnamon in a bear hug, and shouted "Testament!"

Magnamon cried out in pain as electricity surged through his body, but he still managed to strain enough to raise a fist and punch BlackSeraphimon away from him.

He glanced over at the fight between Davis and Kari and did not like what he was seeing.

Davis slammed into the ground, again, a crater forming around him from the impact, and struggled to raise himself up again.

Kari floated over him, smiling wickedly at him.  "Just like some of our old practice fights.  But this one ends here!  Ha!"  She sent another ball of pink energy down at Davis, but Davis managed to raise his hand and counter with a blue attack of his own.

The attacks collided, and temporarily blinded Kari, giving Davis enough time to fly over to Magnamon, once again wrapped in his protective bubble.

"How you doing buddy?" he asked his Digimon partner, who was panting, while the still mute BlackSeraphimon floated in the air before them, waiting for them to make the next move.

"Not so good," Magnamon replied.  "This guy is _strong.  I'm doing some damage to him, but not as much as he's doing to me.  Without digivolving to Imperialdramon, I don't think I can win this."_

Davis grunted.  "Okay, here's what we do, on my signal, I give you all my power, and you try your very best to kill him."

Magnamon blinked.  "_That's your plan?"_

"Yeah."

"Oh, there is absolutely no way that plan can fail."

"This isn't the time to be sarcastic Magnamon."

"No, this is the time to come up with a _good plan!"_

"Listen, just use your ultimate attack, and that should at least seriously wound him, and if I give you all my power that should leave you enough to fly us out of here."

A pause.  "You know, that's actually been one of your better plans."

Davis raised his staff, the orb at the top glowing.  "Let's do it!"

Energy streamed from Davis into Magnamon, restoring his golden glow, and he flew forward towards BlackSeraphimon with unprecedented speed.

"Eat this!  Magna Explosion!!"

BlackSeraphimon cried out in pain as the light engulfed him, and after a few seconds, he crashed into the ground, his armor heavily cracked, and charred.

Magnamon quickly flew back towards Davis, and the two quickly flew off before BlackSeraphimon could recover.

Kari stood watching them flee.  "Heh, always knew he didn't have the courage for a prolong fight."

BlackSeraphimon landed beside her, and kneeled, waiting silently for orders.

"We'll let them go for now, I doubt that they will even be able to limp as far as Rivendell.  And for now, we must assemble our army, and capture more Digimon, and prepare for war.  This will the big one."

***

"What did I do to deserve this?" Kazu complained as the four humans and Digimon trekked through the woods of the Shire.

Takato looked around at the beautiful scenery of the Shire.  He had never thought to actually travel all that far away from home before, and not like this.  A part of him was terrified by all this, of dark Digivices, Digidestined, war, and such, but another part of him was thrilled that his grand adventure was finally starting.

Suddenly, Kazu spotted something, and nudged Kenta, who looked in the direction Kazu was pointing, and nodded.

"Uh guys, we just saw something, and we' re going to go check it out, and we'll be right alright?" Kazu said, and then sprinted off, quickly followed by Kenta.

Takato and Jeri both sighed.  "I don't even want to know," Takato said, knowing that those two were going to get into trouble somehow.

"So, Takato, how do you know that guy Davis anyway?" Jeri asked shyly, blushing a bit at the fact she was almost alone with Takato.  Leomon quietly fell a few steps behind Jeri, and pulled Guilmon along with him, to give Jeri a little time.

Takato, being the young, innocent (and oblivious) Tamer that he was, didn't notice Jeri's blush, as he went back through his memories.

"Well, supposedly, he's been coming here to the Shire for centuries for vacations, occasionally with another friend of his, Ken Ichijojou, I think, and supposedly it's the same person, though most people say that its just a bunch of relatives, all with the same name."

Jeri blinked.  "I'd heard that too, but haven't he actually told you the truth?"

Takato shook his head.  "Nope.  Most of the time he just chatted with dad, and borrowed a lot of food, and when I did ask him about that, he got all mad and asked if he looked old, and dad told me not to ask afterwards."

"Well, I guess if you walked to somebody and asked if they were a hundred years old they would be offended," Jeri agreed.

All further conversation was forestalled by familiar screaming.

Takato and Jeri turned towards the source, just in time to have Kazu and Kenta crash into them.

"Guys, what did you do now?" Takato asked exasperatedly.

"Nothing, nothing," Kenta said quickly.

"It wasn't our fault!" Kazu added defensively.

"Dino Burst!"

"Duck!" Takato shouted, and they dropped to the ground, as a blast of fire flew over their heads and incinerated the trees surrounding them.

An Allomon, an Armor dinosaur Digimon, roared as it stomped through the trees.  Its partner, a tall, punkish kid continued ordering his Digimon "Get them!"

"Run!" Takato shouted, as he got back to his feet and ran forward, Guilmon following behind him, eyes narrowing as he shifted into battle mode.

Leomon scooped up Jeri, and ran forward, easily keeping stride with Takato and Guilmon.

Kazu and Kenta scrambled to pick up the cards they had dropped, before another Dino Burst attack flew towards them.  Luckily, MarineAngemon easily blocked the attack with a heart shape bubble, but Kazu and Kenta decided that their lives were worth more than their cards.

Guardromon flew forward, his jets firing, as he picked up both boys, with MarineAngemon floating behind him, watching for more attacks.

As Guardromon caught up with Takato and Jeri, Takato shouted "What did you do to that guy, and why is he trying to kill us?!"

"You know Bandit Keith, the top card player of that gang?" Kazu answered.

Takato paled.  "You stole cards from _him?"_

"We didn't steal these, we won them fair and square," Kenta defended himself.  "Its not our fault he's a sore loser and card player!"

Takato sighed, as he looked behind him.  Yep, Allomon was still behind them, roaring mad.

Suddenly, he glanced at the card Kazu was carrying, and grabbed.  "Gotta borrow this!"

"Hey, that's the one I used to beat him, you can't just take that!" Kazu protested indignantly as he tried to snatch back his Shurimon card.

"And it might just help us win now!" Takato shouted as he brought out his D-arc.  "Now, let's see, how do I do this?"

Takato felt the heat of another attack from behind him and decided now wasn't the time for theatrics, and just slid the card through as he shouted "Digi-modify!  Shurimon's Double Stars activate!"

Everybody stared as the familiar shurikens of Shurimon appeared in Guilmon's arms.

He blinked down at them, and then looked at Takato.  "Are these some new sort of bread?"

"No!" Takato shouted back.  "Just throw them at the trees behind, so that they'll all fall on top of that Digimon back there and his mean partner!  You should know how to!"

"Okay," Guilmon shrugged and seemingly effortlessly chucked the shurikens at their rear.

The star shaped projectile sheared through the thick trees on either side of the path easily, and without even a proper "Timber!" collapsed on top of the gang leader and his Digimon.

Takato saw his plan work, and gave a sigh of relief.  "Guys, I think we can- Ahh!"

That last part was because they had all just encountered a hill, and all of them fell forward screaming.  Even Guardromon was dragged down with them as Guilmon had latched onto a leg to try to keep them up, but the weight was too much for the machine Digimon, and his jets gave as he dropped with them.

They hit the bottom of the hill, and kept going as they fell through the ground, and landed in a dark cave.

Jeri coughed as she stood up.  "Is everybody okay?"

"I think so," Takato answered, as he stood up, and then helped Guilmon up.

He suddenly noticed Guilmon was still growling.  "What is it, boy?"

Guilmon's narrowed eyes were looking at a large pile of something in a corner.  "There's something bad here, Takato."

"Bad?" Takato asked, looking where Guilmon was and paled as he suddenly realized what those things were.

Obviously the others hadn't, as they had all wandered over there, and were poking through it.

"Hey, look what I found!" Kazu exclaimed, as he picked a metal object that had caught his eye.  "It's a Digivice!"

Kenta was also digging through the dirt, and brought out another Digivice.  "Me too!"

Jeri had also picked up something, and was rubbing it with her sock puppet.  "Ruff, Jeri found something too, ruff!"

"Guys get away!" Takato shouted as he pulled them back, all of them still holding their buried treasure.

"What's got you so spooked chumley?" Kazu asked as he banged the Digivice on the wall once to try to activate it.  He got his answered, when a skull fell from the ceiling and landed right in front of him.

Everybody screamed, but they calmed down when they realized that it wasn't anything alive.

"Where are we?" Jeri asked, as she looked around the huge cavern, trying to figure a way out.

"I have no idea, and I don't want any ideas," Kenta stammered as he backed away from the skeletons.

What none of them noticed was that some of the bones in there weren't quite dead yet.

Takato saw Kazu still examining his find, and realized that it looked eerily familiar.  "Hey Kazu, can I look at that?"

Kazu snatched the ancient Digivice away from Takato.  "No way chumley!  Not after the way you snatched that card of mine's away!  And where is it anyway, I want it back!"

Takato sweatdropped.  "I think I lost it on the way down."

"What?!" Kazu exploded.  "Do you know how many victories that card gave me?!  That was my lucky card!  Now I've gotta find another lucky card, and its coming out of _your pocket!"_

"Uh guys," Kenta stammered, pointing at a pile where something was disturbing the dust.

Unfortunately, Kazu and Takato were still to busy arguing too notice, but fortunately, Jeri noticed what Kenta did.

"Takato, I think something's over there," Jeri said, fear starting to creep into her voice, as Leomon stepped in front of her protectively.

"This place feels like a tomb," he muttered.  "A violated tomb.  I think we should depart before we disturb any spirits."

"Too late for that!" Kazu screamed as out of the pile of bones rose a SkullGreymon and a SkullMammothmon.

Takato and Kazu gaped at the sight of the Ultimate and Mega Digimon, before screaming along with Jeri and Kenta.

The SkullGreymon lumbered forward, red eyes filled with malevolence.  "Dark Shot!"

"MarineAngemon!" Kenta cried out, and the tiny Mega flew in front of Kenta, and with a  "phoo!" shot out a large heart shaped bubble that deflected the missile away from them and towards the roof.

"Everybody, run!" Takato shouted as he sprinted towards a tunnel as everybody followed, with rocks raining down on them from the deflected shot.

The two skeletal Digimon gave a feral roar before pursuing their prey.

"Do you have any idea where you're going?" Kazu shouted at Takato, who was in the lead, as they desperately raced for their lives.

"As long as its away from those two ghosts, who cares?!" Kenta interrupted.

Suddenly, Takato stopped up ahead, and everybody else crashed into him.  They had reached a dead end.

"Now what should we do?" Jeri asked, glancing nervously behind her.  "We can't die here, we have a mission."

Takato was still trying to think of something, when he suddenly remembered his Digivice.

"Do any of you have a Digmon or Drimogemon card?" he demanded.

Kenta shuffled through his cards for a moment, before offering Takato a Digmon card.

"What, you want to use that to dig us out of here?" Kazu shouted as he saw Takato accept the card.

"Wait, Takato knows what he's doing," Jeri said confidently.  "Takato usually has a plan, right?"  She gave him an encouraging smile to try to calm him down so he wouldn't panic like Kazu and Kenta were.

Takato smiled back at Jeri, and then answered Kazu, "Actually, yes, I am going to use this to get us out of here.  Digi-modify!  Digmon's Rock Cracking Activate!"

For a moment, Takato regretted the fact that he couldn't take the time to come up with a better pose to slash his card, but decided that he could think of one later.

Drills materialized on both of Guilmon's arms, and he quickly applied them to the dirt wall that was separating them from freedom.

"You have got to teach me how to do that!" Kazu said in awe as he watched Guilmon work.

"Guys, they're here!" Kenta cried as SkullGreymon and SkullMammothmon stampeded through the cave and halted in front of them.

"Just a little longer!" Takato shouted as he thought he saw a little light coming through the dirt rather than the strange glow from the underground fungi.  "Try to hold them off!"

"You've got it!" Kazu shouted.  "Go Guardromon!"

"Here I go!" Guardromon shouted as he launched himself forward.  "Guardian Barrage!"

The whistling missiles (literally with little whistles in their mouths) flew towards SkullGreymon, but the missiles hit the body of the undead Digimon, and did very little damage.

"Pi pu!" MarineAngemon shouted as he encased of them in a pink bubble as SkullGreymon's claw rammed into them.

"I see sunlight!" Takato shouted excitedly as a tiny shaft of yellow streamed in.

Suddenly another claw thrust through the thin layer of dirt left, and grabbed Guilmon and Takato and pulled them out.

"Takato!" Jeri cried out, before she and Leomon were also pulled.

"Hey, wait for us!" Kazu and Kenta cried out in unison as they used their hands to push aside the remaining dirt and dove outside.

All four humans were lying on the ground outside panting, with another figure standing over them, smirking.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" he asked as he looked down at all of them panting on the ground.

Suddenly, Takato shot back up.  "Run!  We've got to get away before those two get out here!"

"Don't worry, Cyberdramon can handle them," the stranger said confidently, indicating the growling dragon beside him.  Cyberdramon had been the one to pull Takato and the others out.

"You don't understand," Takato continued, recognizing Cyberdramon as an Ultimate level Digimon, "there's a-"

But his words were cut off as SkullGreymon and SkullMammothmon burst out of the hill, roaring.

The stranger's face frowned, but he still didn't look too concerned.  "Don't worry, watch."

Takato turned around, and saw Jeri, Kazu, and Kenta running out of the way of their two hunters, but it seemed they had other concerns.

As soon as the Ultimate and Mega looked up at the sun, they both screamed in pain, and reeled away from the light.

"Cyberdramon, finish it!" he ordered, and the dragon jumped forward, claws glowing with energy.

"Desolation Claw!"

 The attack slammed into SkullGreymon and SkullMammothmon, and pushed both of them back into the dark cave.  With a few more slashes, a small avalanche buried the opening.

Cyberdramon landed back beside the stranger, who was trying to reassure the young humans.

"Don't worry, I've dealt with them before," he told them.  "They're the leftover remains of once-great Digimon, who were reanimated by dark spirits.  They're very dangerous, but they can't stand sunlight, or any holy light for that matter."

"Thank you for pulling us out, I don't know how much longer we could've last," Takato said, as he made sure he still had all of his stuff.

"No problem, you're just lucking that we were just passing by, and Cyberdramon heard the battle going on.  By the way, the name's Ryo Akiyama."

Suddenly, Kazu and Kenta, were had previously been busy counting their cards, went starry-eyed.  "Ryo Akiyama?!  The Legendary Tamer-Warrior?!"

Ryo sweatdropped.  "Uh-oh."

The two Digimon fanatics were on the Legendary Tamer in a moment, asking for his autograph, and a photo with him, and various other memorabilia.  Even the growling voice of Cyberdramon wasn't enough to deter them.

Kazu fished in his bag for a camera, while Kenta searched for a pen and a piece of paper to get Ryo's autograph, while Ryo just sweatdropped and backed away nervously.

As the two were still searching for their items, Ryo backed up to Takato and quickly whispered "Don't go near the Barrow-Wights again, old evil spirits lurk around there, and at night, well, there's no sun.  I'll see you guys around, I've got another engagement elsewhere."

At that moment Kazu and Kenta found what they had been searching for, but Ryo hoped on Cyberdramon, who quickly flew off before the two boys could grab on again.

Boy gave groans of disappointment, while Takato just stared in wonder after the Legendary Tamer, Ryo Akiyama, who was said to have fought in great wars in the east, far, far away from the Shire.

Jeri, meanwhile, was still looking at what she had dragged out of the cave.  "Hey, this Digivice looks like yours Takato!"

Takato blinked, and saw in the light of day, that _all of the Digivices they had found in the caves were exactly like his, but had different colors, brown for Kazu, a light pink for Kenta, and orange for Jeri._

Before any of them could stop, the other three original Digivices rose from where they had been attached, and the new Digivices pulled the white ordinary Digivices, and then all three activated and beeped.

"Hey!" Kazu cried out as he tried to grab his white Digivice, but too late, but then blinked when the D-Arc came online and seemed to connect to Guardromon.  Kenta and Jeri's new D-Arc also seemed to be doing the same thing.

Kazu's eyes lit up.  "Hey chumley, you slid Digimon cards through the slots here right?"

Takato nodded distractedly once.  "Yeah, you just slash it and yell out the command."  Takato was still thinking back on their harrowing experience.

"Cool!"

Takato's head jerked up.  "What?"

Kazu had run off, and was fumbling with a couple of his more powerful cards.

"Oh no…" Takato muttered before he heard Kazu shout out "Digi-Modify!  Wargreymon's Terra Force activate!"

There was a very large explosion behind them, and a moment later a large tree fell down.

"At this rate, we'll never get to Bree," Takato muttered, as more explosions sounded in the distance, especially after Kenta joined Kazu in 'experimenting' with their new D-Arcs.

***

It took them two more days to get to Bree, and when they did finally reach the gates of Bree, it was already nightfall, and raining too, so none of them were in too happy a move.

Takato, trying to keep the hood of his cloak up, knocked loudly on the gate, and hoped the gatekeeper wasn't asleep.

Luckily for him, the small peephole in the door opened quickly.  "What do you want?  What is your business?"

"Uh nothing, I'm just Mr. Underhill, just traveling, sightseeing, that sort of thing," Takato said, plastering a fake smile on.

The doorman peered at him intently for just a moment, and then shrugged.  "Eh, fine."  The latch closed, and then the small human sized door opened, and all four of them hurried through, though not without a quick glance over their shoulders.

They trotted through the town quickly, and found the inn quickly, and ran in.

The inside was crowded, with humans, Digimon, and even one or two techno-mages and elves scattered about.

Takato moved towards the bar area, where a Digitamamon wearing an apron was barking orders at the Tapirmon waiters.

"Hey you, don't spill that soup!  Hurry up with those won tons!" Digitamamon shouted at various Rookies as they scurried about, not noticing Takato until the young goggleboy tapped him in his side.

"Uh, excuse me, but could you tell me where Davis the Black is?" Takato asked, peering up at the two yellow eyes of the Ultimate Digimon.

Digitamamon paused for a moment.  "Davis the Black?  Human, tall, carried around an odd Digivice, and staff, and has a Veemon?"

Takato nodded eagerly, but his face fell, until Digitamamon said "Haven't seen him for months.  I wonder what happened to him."

Takato glumly trekked back to the tables the others had reserved, and where Kazu and Kenta were slurping down bowls of Digitamamon's Chinese soup.

"Did you find him?" Jeri asked him, but she saw Takato's glum expression, and put her arm around his shoulder to try to comfort him.

"So you didn't find that guy then?" Kazu asked between spoonfuls of soup.  "Well, good riddance to him then, after making us go with you."

Kenta waved over a Tapirmon waiter, and asked for another pint of soda.  Takato suddenly noticed something.

"Excuse, but who's that in the corner over there?" Takato asked, tugging on the Tapirmon's arm, and pointing towards a tall man, who had his legs crossed, and was smoking from a pipe.

"Him?  Don't know his real name, but we just call him Strider," the Tapirmon said.  "Don't like his type at all, with all his grim faces, and such."

After the Tapirmon waiter had left, Jeri asked "Did Davis give you any idea of where to go if he couldn't meet you here?"

"No.  All he said was that I should be very careful about using this," Takato said, holding his red D-Arc.

"Well, it can't be all that bad," Jeri said.  "I mean, we all have the same models now, and we're still fine, so your Digivice can't be that harmful for you."

Jeri's left hand came up, with the sock puppet.  "Come on, Takato, cheer up!" it said.

Takato took a deep breath.  "Yeah, I guess you're right."  And then sweatdropped when he realized he was talking to a sock puppet.

"While you guys are still trying to figure what to do, I think I'll go get another bowl of this soup.  This stuff is great!" Kazu said, carrying his empty bowl back towards the bar.

"What about that Elvish place your dad stopped by, Rivendell?" Jeri suggested.  "Maybe they'll have an idea about what to do?"  
  


Takato nodded, his eyes lighting up once again.  "You know, that's not such a bad idea!"

Anymore planning was paused when Takato's ears held Kazu's voice say "Takato Matsuki?  Sure I know a guy named Takato!"

Takato whirled around, and saw Kazu at the bar, slightly drunk, pointing back at him.

"He's over there," Kazu said.  "Hey, Takato, come on over!  This guys are buying!"

Takato panicked, and rushed over to Kazu, and started pulling him back to the table.

"Sorry, sorry," he said, bowing towards all the men arrayed there, "he has absolutely no tolerance for alcohol, my name's just Underhill, and we've got to get going-"

At this moment, Takato slipped on a puddle of beer that had been spilt earlier, and gasped as his D-Arc went flying out of his hand.

In the corner, Strider's head jerked fractionally.

Takato managed to grab his D-Arc again, but the impact of the fall made him clench his hand around it, and press a particular button and-

Everybody gasped as Takato vanished right before their eyes!

Jeri and Kenta jumped to their feet, and hurried over to the spot, while Kazu just stared around dazedly.

***

Miles away, in the dark night, Digimon raised their heads, hearing a signal.

***

Takato crawled away from the circle the drunken men had formed around where he had disappeared.  Everything was grey and shadowy now, but Takato just kept crawling, listening to the murmurings that his sudden disappearance had precipitated, until he back into a wall, and then quickly pushed the invisibility button on his Digivice again.  Guilmon was instantly beside him as he had been following Takato's scent.

He had barely caught his breath, when a hand hauled him up.

"Nice little trick there," murmured a voice in Takato's ear, and Takato looked up and realized it was the man called Strider.  Though Takato couldn't quite see the face, he could see something glinting in the dark hood of the man's cloak.

Before Takato could do anything, he felt himself being dragged out of the main room, and into a private room, with Guilmon and an Agumon trotting along besides.

"Takato!" Guilmon cried, as he ran to Takato and stood in front of him, ready to defend him.

The man leaned over and snuffed out all the candles in the room with just his fingers, and the increasing darkness made Takato get even more nervous.

"Now, I can blend in if I want to, but to disappear like that," and Strider pulled of his hood once the last of the candles were out, "in front of ten people's eyes like- Well I wish I could do that."

"W-who are you?" Takato asked nervously, his hand drifting towards hid D-Arc.  If this man was a follower of Lucemon, he was in trouble..

"Around here, I am called Strider.  But you can call me Tai.  Strider sounds cool, but if my girlfriend ever heard that, she'd beat me up."

Takato blinked at the casual response, but the mysterious Tai sobered up quickly as he paced the room quickly.

"That's an unusual Digivice you have there," Tai said.

Takato blinked.  "Not that unusual.  It's a family heirloom."

"Must be a powerful family," Tai said, glancing out the windows.  "Are you scared?"

"Uh, yes," Takato said nervously.

"Not quite enough."

Suddenly the door burst open, and Tai whirled around, sword drawn, and with a loud clang it met Leomon's blade, as the Champion Digimon strained to overcome Tai's blade, but it seemed Tai was easily holding his own.

Tai pulled away from Leomon quickly, leaving him stumbling for a moment, and Tai calmly sheathed his blade again.

"Look like its just your friends, Takato," he said, sounding relieved.  "But that brief moment of invisibility I assure you, was almost enough to condemn us all."

"Who are you?" Jeri asked, her voice quivering slightly, but determination etched across her face.

"The name's Tai, and my buddy here is Agumon, and I'm your best chance for living," he said.

"How do we know that you're on our side?" Kazu asked suspiciously.

"You don't, but I'm asking you to trust your instincts and listen to me, because there are very powerful Digimon coming here, and I would not like to fight them in the middle of a village.  And how could you not trust a fellow goggle boy?"

Tai turned back to Takato, and the young boy saw that Tai also wore a set of goggles, similar to Davis' goggles, but with gray circular lenses.

"Hey, I thought Davis was the only other goggleboy!" Takato said.

Tai snorted.  "Actually, I started the trend, and he followed my example."

"Does that mean you're a Digidestined?" Takato asked, hoping for a yes.

"You could say that," Tai said, "but different from Davis' type, I use a Crest more than him."

Tai fished under his shirt, and dug out a small necklace, on which hung a small tag, with a crest with a sun symbol on it.

Takato gasped as he saw it, as it seemed to radiate light and goodness.

"We can trust him, you guys," he decided, and the others relaxed somewhat since Takato had always been a good judge of character.

Tai nodded, relieved that he had gained their trust, and then turned towards the door.  "We've gotta go now, if you guys want to survive.  I know this countryside like the back of my hand, and if those Dark Masters are going to find us, they're going to have to hack through a couple of forests to do it."

Everybody stared a bit bewildered at Tai's confidence, but a sudden high screech made all of them jump and run out the door after him.

***

After they left Bree, their backpacks bulging with food thanks to a generous Digitamamon (of course Tai had had to threaten him once or twice, but that's not the point), they had almost immediately left the main roads, and had started going through caves, thick woods, lakes, any and everything.

By the end of their third day traveling with Tai, Takato could barely tell east from west.

"Are we there yet?" Kazu panted as they finally emerged out of a particularly thick wood, and a wood that Guardromon had gotten stuck in five times.

"There!" Tai said happily when he saw a mountain, with some ruins on it.  "Weathertop!  We should be safe there, for at least a little while."

Tai ran forward, and the rest of them followed him as he led them up to the top, where there were the remains of a tower on it.

"In ancient days, this used to be an old watchtower, but then it got attacked, and after that, well its long story," Tai said, as he set down his pack, with Agumon lying down besides him.

He reached into his pack, and dug out several swords, wrapped in leather.  He laid them on the ground, unrolled it, and tossed one at each of the humans.

"These swords are for you.  If you get separated from your Digimon, these swords are strong enough to damage nearly any Digimon that you'll probably meet- including Megas."

Kazu and Kenta stared in awe at the sword, while Takato just accepted it grimly, and Jeri was staring at it with a bit of fear.

"Me and Agumon are going to scout around, still here, and try not to make too much noise," Tai warned.  "You guys are pretty powerful, but still, there are dark things wandering about that would make you cry out for your mommies."

"Hey, I resent that!" Kazu and Kenta shouted indignantly, before they all heard an eerie howl in the distance, making Kazu and Kenta scream "Mommy!" and run to hide behind a rock formation.

Tai smirked.  "See?"  He turned with a dramatic _swish of his cloak.  "Stay here.  I'll be back soon."_

Tai and Agumon walked down the hill, slowly, and the four young kids saw a bright golden flash from below, and then a loud _whoosh as something flew away._

Takato clapped his hands after a moment.  "Well, I guess there's nothing to do but get dinner ready."

Before anybody could do anything, a fireball stuck the middle of the ground, and set the dry wood there alight.

Takato whirled around.  "What?!  Put that out before someone sees!"

Everybody rushed over to stomp it out, before MarineAngemon blew one of his little bubbles that grew and then smothered the fire.

Takato gave a sigh of relief, and then turned to Guilmon.  "What did you do that for, boy?!"

Guilmon tilted his head a bit.  "What?  Do what?"

"Shoot that fireball!"

"But I didn't do it," Guilmon said, pointing at himself.

Takato blinked.  "But if you didn't do that, then who else here uses fire attacks?"

"That would be me."

They all turned towards a shadowy corner, where a small purple demon Digimon, bouncing a blue fireball in his hands, walked out towards them.

Leomon, being the closest, stepped forward, and Jeri brought up her analyzer screen.

"Impmon, Rookie, this mischievous little demon likes to cause trouble with his Bada-Boom fireballs."

"You've got that right," Impmon said, and then tossed the fireball off the side of the hill, where it exploded with a bright flash.

"What are you doing?" Kenta shouted panicking.  "There are dangerous Digimon about!"

"Me being one of them," Impmon said, smirking at them.  "I'm just letting my friends know that youse guys are here.  I wish I were at full power to help reclaim the Hazard Digivice," and here Impmon glanced at the red D-Arc in Takato's hands, "but orders are orders."

Everybody tensed as he stepped closer to Takato, and then peered oddly at Guilmon.  "Hey, pineapple head, where'd you get that mark on you stomach from?"

Guilmon looked down.  "This?  Takato drew it on me."

Impmon blinked.  "Strange.  How did the Hazard get onto you…" Impmon glanced at Takato's D-Arc.  "And what did you do to it?  Last time I saw it, it was pitch black."

Takato clutched his D-Arc protectively.  "I don't care what anyone says!  This is my Digivice now, and it's not evil!"

Impmon stared a moment longer, and then shrugged.  "Hey, whatever kid.  Now, if I were you, I would start making sure my affairs were in order, cause you don't want to leave a lot of loose ends."

Impmon whistled, and there was the loud roar of a motorcycle, before one drove right up the side of the hill, and drove straight through the small crowd of Digimon and humans, and when the dust cleared, Impmon was gone.

Takato grabbed his pack, and then ran towards the center of the clearing.  "Everybody get ready!  I think we've got company coming!"

Everybody ran towards the center of the clearing, and quickly pulled out their swords, though none of them really any idea how to use them, but it was better than nothing, right?

Takato pulled out a random card, and held it up.

"Chumley, what are you doing?" Kazu asked nervously.

Takato didn't answer, until a burst of light shone from the card.  When the light cleared, it was now blue, with a dinosaur's head on it.

Takato shoved at Kazu, and said, "Slash it."  
  


Takato was already concentrating on another card before Kazu could ask another question, so he just shrugged, and said "Digi-modify," as he slid it through his D-Arc.

He jumped as Guardromon shouted "Guardromon matrix digivolve to… Andromon!"

Kazu stared in awe at his new Ultimate leveled Digimon.  "Whoa!  You've gotta teach me how you did that!"

Takato had already created another Blue Card, and had handed it to Jeri, before working on one for himself.

Jeri couldn't help but pause for a moment, and then struck a pose.  "Digi-modify!  Matrix Digivolution activate!"

Kazu and Kenta stared at her strangely, before she shrugged.  "What, you guys can have poses, but I can't?"

They didn't get a chance to answer, as Leomon shouted "Leomon matrix digivolve to… Grapeleomon!"

Leomon was now taller, with blue fur, and armor on his arms and legs, along with a more metallic look.

Takato coughed to gain their attention, and then struck another pose.  "Now watch a master do it.  Digi-modify!  Matrix Digivolution activate!!"

"Guilmon matrix digivolve to… WarGrowlmon!"

Guilmon now towered over both Grapleomon and Andromon.  Cybernetic armor had appeared around the dinosaur's chest, armed with deadly looking blasters, and two jets in the back.  In the middle of the chest plate was the Hazard symbol.

Takato nodded.  "That should do it."

"So this is the bearer of the Hazard, who dares to defy the great Lucemon?" said a clown, who suddenly appeared, balancing on a ball.

Everybody stared.  "They're sending in a clown?"

The clown jumped off of the bouncing ball, which disappeared, before pulling out a couple of drawings.  "But not just any clown, I'm also a storyteller!  You see, once upon a time, four Tamers set out to hide from the forces of darkness the Hazard Digivice, which had been lost long ago, but oh no!  Piedmon found them, and seized the Hazard Digivice, and returned victorious to his master and was rewarded beyond his wildest dreams!"

Kazu snorted.  "That's the worst story I've ever heard."

"Did I forget to mention that it's a true story?" and with those words, the childish façade of the clown disappeared, to be replaced by a red-suited Digimon, with wild hair, and wearing a pair of swords on his back.

Takato brought up his D-Arc.  "Piedmon, Mega-level, demon man type Digimon.  He'll confuse you with his Clown Trick, and then skewer you with his Trump Swords."

Piedmon landed again, and strolled towards them leisurely, and as he did, six shadows seemed to rise out of the ground, and take solid forms around him.

Kenta raised his D-Arc.  "Wraithmon, Ultimate-level.  They may not look like much, but their Ebony Blaster and Shadow Slash will definitely make you hurt."

"A Mega and six Ultimates vs. one pathetic Mega and three Ultimates.  I like these odds," Piedmon said, and then raised an eyebrow when he spotted WarGrowlmon, and the symbol on his chest.

"What's this?  Hmm, a Digimon, bearing the symbol of the Hazard.  You must indeed be a powerful Tamer to be able to tap into the power of the Digital Hazard, but all great Tamers must eventually fall!"

With that last word, Piedmon lunged; taking out his swords, but Takato frantically raised his own sword to block, and barely managed to hold back the powerful strike by the Mega Digimon.

Before anybody could move to help Takato, the Wraithmon were on them, and they were just barely holding their own.

Piedmon struck at Takato with both of his swords, but Takato kept backing up, dodging his attacks.

Piedmon suddenly leapt forward, and before Takato could stop him, his hand darted towards Takato's Digivice.

"I've got it!" Piedmon shouted triumphantly, but when his finger touched the D-Arc, it glowed with power, and Piedmon cried out in pain as the D-Arc sent out a blast of power into his body, and sent him flying backwards.

Piedmon landed in a heap on the other side of the clearing, smoke rising from his body.

All the Wraithmons paused when they saw their leader in a heap, and WarGrowlmon took advantage of it.

"Everybody, out of the way!" he shouted, and his main blasters glowed with energy before he shouted "Atomic Blaster!"

The twin red streams blasted their way through the Wraithmon, killing two outright, and severely injuring the rest.

The cyborg then leaned down to check on his partner.  "Are you okay, Takato?"

Takato got to his feet, panting.  "I think so," he said, but then held up his D-Arc.  "What happened?"

Before he could ask more questions, they all turned to the other side of the battlefield, where Piedmon, along with the remaining Wraithmon were regrouping.

"So, it seems that you've tapped into the power of the Hazard Digivice," Piedmon said shakily.  His eyes narrowed, the implications of this running through his mind.  Unfortunately, none of the humans were as well informed.

"We must now take our leave, but before we go, here's a parting gift!" and before anybody could react, Piedmon had hurled a small dagger at Takato.

The dagger plunged into his right shoulder, and Takato fell again, as cold crept down his arm, and throughout the rest of his arm.  At the same time, WarGrowlmon cried out in pain also, and dedigivolved back to Guilmon, clutching his right arm.

Suddenly, there was another cry from above.  "Starlight Explosion!!"

The Wraithmons screamed in pain from the bright light, and the rest of them dissolved then and there, but Piedmon was just blinded from the bright attack, but the following attack got rid of him.

"Terra Force!"

A giant ball of energy crashed into Piedmon, and sent him flying into the distance.

Jeri was kneeling over Takato, trying to keep him awake, while Kazu and Kenta quickly placed themselves in front of the two just in case these newcomers were enemies.

From the once again dark sky, a glowing bird landed, and two riders got off of its back.

"What happened?" shouted one, and it was Tai, as he ran over to check on Takato, while the other Digimon, a warrior in golden armor, followed behind.

Tai kneeled down and probed Takato's arm gently with his hands, and pulled out the dagger that Piedmon had thrown.

He cursed when he saw that the tip was broken off, and before the rest of their astonished eyes, the dagger dissolved into fine mist that was blown away.

"Sora!" he called, "get over here, we're going to need a lift fast!"

The other person who had gotten off from the giant bird ran over at Tai's call, and they saw that she was a tall woman, with kind features, and bright red hair, with a blue hat on her head.

She gasped when she saw the dagger in Tai's hand.  "Where'd did you get that?"  
  


"This is Sora, a friend of mine's," Tai introduced them to Sora, and Jeri thought she saw Sora's eyes flash at the word "friend".  "We've got to get Takato to Rivendell immediately before-'

He was interrupted when both the giant bird and the golden warrior flashed with light before shrinking into two Rookies, Agumon and Biyomon.

Sora looked at Biyomon. "Why did you dedigivolve, we've got to get this boy to Rivendell now!"

Biyomon shook her head.  "I'm sorry, Sora, but we just sensed this force suddenly, and it forced me and Agumon to dedigivolve."

Tai's head shot up, and he pulled out his Digivice, and a small grid appeared on the screen, and on the grid were several black spots.

Tai started muttering swear words that made Jeri wince, and Kazu and Kenta listen in.

"Dark Towers," he said.  "They stop all Digivolution for miles around, and forces any digivolved Digimon that is higher than Champion back to their base levels.  They must really be desperate if they erected one this far out."

Sora nodded.  "And with it miles in the opposite direction, it would be better just to find horses and ride towards Rivendell."

"Hey, our Digimon are still fine," Kazu spoke up, pointing at Andromon and Grapeleomon.  "How come they didn't dedigivolve along with yours?"

Sora frowned.  "That is a very good question.  But that must be answered later.  I was wandering around these regions, and its just luck that Tai found me in time for me to help with the battle."

"Who attacked you, and how did they find you in the first place?" Tai asked.

"Well, after you left," Jeri started, "this Digimon called Impmon appeared here, and sent out this signal fireball, and then he rode off on a motorcycle I think.  After that, Piedmon arrived with those Wraithmon, and he tried to take Takato's D-Arc, but I think it shocked him for some reason, and then we were winning, and then Piedmon stabbed Takato."

Tai's eyes narrowed.  "That Digivice, the one that links Guilmon with Takato, refused Piedmon."

Jeri nodded.  "And I don't think Guilmon's doing too well either."

Guilmon was also on the ground, unconscious, but he was thrashing about, and eerily enough, he cried out in pain in unison with Takato.

Tai thought for a moment.  "This is very strange, but hopefully Gennai will have more answers."

He looked at the two Ultimate Digimon still there.  "I don't know how you guys digivolved, but you guys are the most powerful of us at the moment.  At first light, we're going to have to make a run towards Rivendell.  The Wraithmon are less powerful during the day, and Piedmon will still be recovering from that trashing we gave him, so you should be able to hold them off."

"What about you?" Kazu asked.  "What are you two going to do while we're running away from those creepy guys?"

"There are some herbs around here," Tai said, waving at the countryside.  "We're going to try to find some of them.  Though Takato's wound doesn't look it, it is very deep.  The dagger was created in the Black Land, where evil reigns, and it is slowly poisoning Takato.  If we don't get him to the Elves, he may be beyond our reach."

"You mean he'll die?" Kenta asked.  

"Worse," Tai said.  "He will become a servant of the Dark Lord, and the Dark Lord will torture forever for using his Digivice."

"No!" Takato cried out, and everybody turned to him, but the goggle boy was still unconscious, but he seemed to be having a nightmare.

Tai stared at him for a moment longer, before turning away.  "We leave at first light."

***

When the sun rose on the group, Tai and Sora left, but promising they would return soon.

Grapeleomon easily carried Jeri and Takato, while Andromon had slung Guilmon over one shoulder, while he held Kazu and Kenta in his arms.

The group set off, keeping a lookout for any of the Wraithmon.

As they traveled, Takato's condition worsened, as he grew paler, and also developed a fever, while still crying out at odd times.

At times, he awoke, and suddenly warned them to take cover, just as a Wraithmon past by.

After the third time this happened, and after the Wraithmon had past, Kazu commented, "Man, does Chumley have a sixth sense, or what?"

Jeri frowned in thought.  "Tai said that Takato's D-Arc was somehow linked with all this, and somehow had a link to this Digimon Dark Lord.  I guess that because these guys are his minions, Takato can sense when they approach."

"And a very useful talent it is too," Tai said, as everybody looked up and saw Tai and Sora had gotten several horses from somewhere, and had dismounted, their partner Digimon holding the horses.  "I don't know about what you said, but it's more likely that that wound has created a minor link between Takato and the darkness.  The longer its there, the closer Takato comes to entering their world, a world of shadows."

"Takato must be very brave though to be able to be resisting them this long," Sora said sympathetically.

Tai drew out a few leaves of a plant, and crushed them into a powder, before pulling out a container, and opening it to show it was full of steaming water.

He dropped the powder in, and a pungent smell permeated the clearing, clearing everybody's mind, and giving them a sense of calm.

"These are kingsfoil leaves," Tai explained, as he soaked a cloth in the water, and then wiped Takato's wound with it.  "Very hard to find, but they're very powerful, but I'm not that sure even it'll work on this sort of wound.

The growing redness of the wound seemed to retract a little, and Takato's delirious mumblings subsided a bit when Tai gave him a drink of the medicine.

Tai nodded.  "That's the best either of us can do for now.  Now this becomes a race to see if we can reach Rivendell before Takato succumbs to his wounds."

***

Takato's ability for predicting when the Wraithmon approached saved them from several more encounters, but when a couple of DarkTyrannomons managed to surprise them, a couple of Wraithmons were drawn to the fight, and though they had managed to beat them back, the fight had exhausted Grapelemon and Andromon and forced them to dedigivolve.

They had then rode on the extra horses Tai and Sora had brought with them, but it was the fourth day when Takato suddenly jerked awake, behind Jeri on the horse they were sharing.

Everybody stopped, as Takato had somehow climbed to his feet, and was leaning on a tree.

Tai was the first to dismount, and had reached Takato, when he noticed uneasily that the screen of Takato's D-Arc had a flashing hazard sign…

Tai cautiously reached towards it, just to check on it, but it sparked, and Tai quickly retraced his hand.

_That thing really is protective of Takato, Tai thought, looking at the Digivice.  __But why Takato of all people?_

"What is it, Takato?" Jeri asked, as she approached Takato, but a grunt from the boy made her stop.  "Is there another enemy nearby?"

"No," Takato said, weakly, sweat collecting on his brow.

His eyes were focused on something in the distance.

For the last few days, Takato had been seeing two worlds, one, the material world, the other, the spiritual.  Of course, his visions of the spiritual world were quickly slipping towards visions of the shadow world, and that was how he was able to see the darkness of the Wraithmons approaching.

He had seen the powers of the others too.  Jeri had a bright orange glow around her, Kazu a dull brown, Kenta a light pink, and Tai and Sora's auras were curiously suppressed, as though they didn't want people to realize their true power.

But another aura was approaching them.  Blazingly bright, and a beautiful blue, it was rapidly approaching, and it was like a beacon in the darkness.

"She's coming," Takato said quietly.  "She's…"

"Who?" Sora asked, puzzled.

"An angel…" Takato whispered before he drifted off again.

Tai picked Takato up and set him up so he was sitting with his back to a tree.

He looked in the direction Takato had been looking, and saw something coming.

For the last couple of days, the countryside had been full of forests, caves, plants and such, so it had been easy for them to hide, but the area they were now approaching was mostly empty, with just a few trees.  They would just have to make a straight out sprint from here on in.

Tai squinted and saw a shape now, a yellow Digimon with many tails…

Sora groaned.  "Not her, anyone but her."

Tai pulled a hand on Sora's shoulder.  "I know she's not the nicest person in this world, but, well, I actually can't think of anything to make this better," Tai said, rubbing his head embarrassedly.

Sora rolled her eyes.  "Oh thank you, glorious leader."  But she softened the remark with a fond smile at Tai.

"Well, who's coming, a friend of yours?" Kazu asked, trying to see better who was approaching.

"Takato said an angel was coming," Jeri said.  "Is that true?"

Tai snorted.  "I think Takato's really gone off the deep end now, if he called _her an angel."_

Takato barely managed to open his eyes, and saw the angel getting off the Digimon.  She wore a blue cloak, with the hood up, but she pulled it down, showing brilliant red hair up in a ninja-style ponytail, a fierce expression, and pointed ears.

_She's beautiful, Takato thought._

"So, the mighty Digidestined are forced to ride horses, running away from the scary Wraithmon," she sneered, fire in her violet eyes.

Sora sighed.  "Hello Rika."

Tai and Sora quickly started to bow, but a quick glare made them pause.  "Don't do that," Rika said.  "And you can consider that an order if you want."

Tai and Sora shared a quick private look between them.  They loved annoying her.

"Who's this?" Kenta asked, staring.  He was a little be stunned by the beautiful rider, and by the pointed ears on her head.

"Eyes to yourself," Rika snapped at him, and looked around.  "Where's the Hazard Digivice?"

"The boy, Takato Matsuki, carries it," Tai, said indicating the ill boy.

Rika knelt down, and the fire in her eyes dimmed just a little, as she examined him.

"Looks like he's on the verge of dying, or worse," she said as she checked him for injuries.  "But it doesn't look like he was in any battles.  What hit him?"

"This," Tai said, producing the handle of the dagger that had stabbed Takato.  "They fought Piedmon, and we managed to drive him away, but he left this little present."

Rika continued to touch Takato gently, and quickly found the place where the dagger had pierced the skin.  The skin there was still red, and in the middle of the red was a small black spot.

Rika touched the wound, and closed her eyes, and concentrated, and Takato started breathing a little easier.

Rika stood up.  "I've managed to give him some of my power, but he's fading fast."

"There are a couple of Dark Towers back thataway," Tai said, jabbing a thumb behind them.  "They've been keeping us from digivolving and getting him to the valley faster."

Rika nodded.  The animosity between the three had temporarily given way to professionalism.  They were talking of war now.

"My Digivice works differently then yours," Rika said, holding up her blue D-Arc.  "Kyuubimon and I will take him to Rivendell."

"Can you handle him?" Tai asked.  "This is open country now.  You won't be able to hide anywhere when the Wraithmon catch up to you."

"I never hide," Rika said arrogantly, "and they'll never be able to catch us."

Tai nodded unhappily.  Rika did have a point.  But they wouldn't be able to keep up with Rika at full speed.  On the other hand, if she took Takato with her, then Jeri and the others should be out of danger since the Wraithmon were only pursuing Takato.

Rika moved towards Takato and pulled him up, and slung one of his arms over her shoulders, and they limped back towards Kyuubimon, who was silently waiting.

Takato eyes opened a bit, and he started murmuring.  "Rika… Nonaka…. Ru…ki…..Makino…. Digimon…Queen…"

Rika's eyes widened.  She turned her head towards Tai and Sora.  "Did you tell these bozos anything about me, like my last name?"

Tai and Sora stared at each other, puzzled, and shook their heads.

"No," Sora confirmed.  "Neither of your names, and we didn't even know you were coming till Takato stopped us and said you were coming."

Rika frowned, and looked a little closer at Takato's face.

Though it was pale and flushed, there was still the innocence of youth, along with a bit of handsomeness, and determination.

Rika blushed when she realized that his face was only a few inches from her own, but quickly turned away so the others wouldn't see it.

"What about Takato?" Jeri asked, or near demanded.  "What's going to happen to him?"

Tai shook his head resignedly.  "Rika is his best chance of getting to Rivendell before its too late.  With our powers sealed, Kyuubimon is the fastest of us, much faster than these horses."

"What about Guilmon?" Leomon asked as he gently set the dragon/dinosaur on the ground.

"Are you kidding, I don't think a jar of peanut butter would wake him up!" Kazu said.

Takato's head stirred, as Rika put him on Kyuubimon, and then got on in front of him.

"Guilmon," he whispered, and Guilmon's eyes snapped open as he suddenly sprang up.

Takato's hands moved, and he fished a card out of his pocket, and spoke in his weak voice, "Digi-modify, digivolution activate."

Guilmon roared as his form was wrapped in light, and then he exploded outward, as a bigger version of himself.

Jeri blinked.  "Guilmon still has enough strength to digivolve to Growlmon?"

Rika scowled at the demon dragon.  "If he thinks he's following us-"

"Do you want to say no to him?" Sora cut in, gesturing to the growling Champion Digimon.  "I think he wants to stay with Takato no matter what."

"And how hard do you think it'll be for those walking shadows to see a big red dinosaur?" Rika asked, waving at Growlmon.

"They can already sense Takato," Tai explained.  "Growlmon will just be extra protection for you while you run."

Rika didn't stop frowning, but she did let the subject drop.

As Kyuubimon turned towards Rivendell, Takato unconsciously wrapped his arms around Rika.  Whether this was for comfort, or maybe he just wanted to stay on, it still made Rika red as a tomato again.  She was just glad Tai and Sora couldn't see her, or she would never live it down.

_This little boy is going to so get it, Rika thought, restraining the urge to punch the lights out of Takato.  __Though he is cute, he is going to die if he ever mentions this._

"Let's go, Kyuubimon," Rika said, and then shouted behind to Growlmon "Just try to keep up you big lug!"

Growlmon, in feral mode, just nodded.

Rika, Takato, and Kyuubimon took off like a shot, and with much more stomping, and the ground shaking, so did Growlmon.

"I hope she makes it," Sora said.

"She has to, or Takato is lost," Tai said.

"I hope she saves Takato," Jeri said, staring after the rapidly disappearing forms of Kyuubimon and Growlmon.

***

The two Champion Digimon ran for many miles, crossing the land so fast that most things were just big blurs to the two riders.

_That Digimon is faster than he looks, Rika thought, looking at Growlmon, who was still keeping pace with the more agile Kyuubimon._

"He is not what he appears to be," Kyuubimon said to Rika.  
  
"What you mean?"

Kyuubimon stared at Growlmon's stomach.  "For one, he has the mark of the Hazard, so that makes him stronger than any normal Digimon.  How he got the Hazard, I have no idea, but also, I sense great power, and potential in him."

Rika frowned.  "And I wonder about this boy.  He seems so innocent and nice, but I can sense the darkness trying to corrupt him, but he's fighting much more than I ever expected any mere human could."

"You, calling a human nice?" Kyuubimon questioned, a smirk in her voice.  "Now I've heard everything."

"Can it," Rika said, feeling a blush on her face again.

There conversation was interrupted when there was en explosion from to the left of them.

Rika turned around and saw that there was quite a few Digimon chasing them now, many of them quite demonic in nature.  Musyamon, DarkTyrannomon, Devimon, and in the lead, an IceDevimon.

Rika sneered.  "If they think they've got a chance to catch us, then they'd better think again."

She pulled out her D-Arc, and one of her favorite cards, and shouted "Digi-modify!  Hyperspeed activate!"

Kyuubimon's legs accelerated as the card took effect, and she rushed forward, the fires on her feet leaving an impressive trail of sparks.

Behind her, Takato stirred.  "Growlmon…"

"What?" Rika looked back, and realized that the dino, though he was fast, couldn't keep up with Kyuubimon after that last card, and was falling behind.  The demon pack after them had made him their main target since they saw Rika was now out of reach.

Rika looked down at Takato.  She couldn't even tell if he was still conscious or not, as his eyes were still closed.

"We can't stop for him," she said, figuring that he was still listening at least, "getting you to Rivendell is top priority!"

"No," Takato said, and he looked up and Rika's retort froze in her throat when she saw the impassioned plea on Takato's face.

Rika, contrary to popular belief, wasn't heartless, and even she had a hard time trying to think up an answer with Takato's innocent eyes staring up at her, especially in such close proximity.

She tried, she really did, but finally she said "Kyuubimon, turn around, we're going back for Growlmon."

Kyuubimon's head jerked.  "What?"

Takato smiled up at her, and then his head fell forward again to rest on her cloak.

"Just do it," Rika ordered, and Kyuubimon complied, turning around in mid-jump, and running back the way they had come.

"No, stop," Takato whispered again, and Rika let out a yell of exasperation, and ordered, "Stop!"

Kyuubimon put on the brakes, and luckily, Rika had a firm grip on Kyuubimon, and Takato had a firm grip on Rika. ( ^-^)

Rika jumped off of Kyuubimon, and pulled Takato with her.

"Will you make up your mind, gogglehead?!" Rika shouted at the Tamer, and she stopped when she heard him chuckling.

"Sorry," he said weakly, and he pulled out his D-Arc again, and two cards.  One glowed, and quickly morphed into a Blue Card, much to Rika's surprise, and he slashed this one first.

Growlmon, who had been drowning under the mass number of Digimon, grew, and grew, until he was at the Ultimate level now, and with one Atomic Blaster decimated the pack that had been bothering him.

The second card Takato slashed made WarGrowlmon turn around and at superspeed go flying towards Takato and company.

Rika blinked.  "You managed to get him to digivolve to Ultimate just like that?"

But her question went unanswered as Takato had passed out again.

Rika sweatdropped.  "You have the worst timing, you know that, gogglehead?"  She shook her head in disbelief as she put Takato on Kyuubimon again.  "Then again, you're a goggleboy, and I'm surprised I can even stand your presence considering the other two ones."

WarGrowlmon had already caught up with them, so they once again took off at high speed, thank to the effect of the cards their respective Tamers had slashed.

"Uh, excuse me," WarGrowlmon asked, leaning over towards Kyuubimon.

Kyuubimon looked up at Wargrowlmon.  "Yes?"

"Do you have any peanut butter?"

Kyuubimon sweatdropped.  "You're thinking of peanut butter at a time like this?"

WarGrowlmon nodded.  "Yeah, peanut butter is good.  Don't you like peanut butter?"

Kyuubimon sweatdrop was getting bigger.  "Uh, no."

"Wow, really?  Well, how about bread?"

Kyuubimon sweatdrop was now gigantic.  "Why are talking to me?"

"Because you're pretty."

Kyuubimon blushed at that comment.  "Uh, thank you."

"You're welcome."

"Less jabbering, more running!" Rika snapped.

"Sorry," Kyuubimon apologized to Rika.

Rika's mood wasn't helped any by Takato chuckles from behind.

"Shut up gogglehead!" she shouted.  "You supposed to be mortally injured!"

That shut him up.

***

After the effects of the card had worn off, WarGrowlmon had still been able to easily keep up with Kyuubimon.

They were nearly to the valley of Rivendell, with the Elvish master Gennai reigned, when Rika started noticing that there were a lot of shadows around them.

Rika leaned down and whispered into Kyuubimon's ear, "When I say go, I want you to stop, attack those shadows around us, which should overshoot us, and then ram through them."

WarGrowlmon, who happened to have very good hearing, chose that moment to pick up Rika and Takato.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?!" Rika shouted indignantly.

"Kyuubimon can't attack as well with two passengers, right?" WarGrowlmon explained.

Rika blinked.  "You actually figured that out?  The bread-obsessed dinosaur?"

WarGrowlmon nodded proudly.  "Yeah, Takato taught me how to!"

Rika slapped herself.  The sooner she was away from these two, the better.  
  


She saw Kyuubimon was still waiting for the signal, and then, when she saw that shadows were closing in on Kyuubimon, she shouted "Now!"

Kyuubimon stopped, and the shadows all were far in front of her before they could stop themselves, and she shouted "Fox Tail Inferno!"

The shades screamed as their mortal enemy fire burned them, and they quickly rose up, into the hulking physical forms of Wraithmon.

As the Wraithmon were still recovering, Kyuubimon leapt into the air, and started spinning.  "Dragon Wheel!" Kyuubimon drove right past the Wraithmon and quickly resumed her fast sprint to catch up with WarGrowlmon.

The Wraithmon, enraged, chased after them, but the high sun slowed them down so that they couldn't go at full speed.

Rika was glad to see that they were approaching a river, but was not glad when a swarm of bats flew over her, but before it could engulf the four, they were already across the river.

The bats gathered on the other bank away from Rika, and formed into a grinning Myotismon.

"Princess Rika, what a pleasure to see you again," he said, giving a mocking bow.  "And under such fortunate circumstances."

"More like unfortunate," Rika muttered under her breath, but shouted back "What makes you think you have the advantage?  This river is the border of the valley of Rivendell.  Take one step into it, and I promise you, you won't like the consequences."

Myotismon looked up at the shallow water of the river and snorted.  "I think I'll take my chances."

"Don't say I didn't warn you," Rika said, and then started murmuring words in the Elvish tongue.

Myotismon and his Wraithmon troops had started forward across the river, when suddenly the water seemed to pick up.

  
"What is this, a trick?" he asked, as he stared at the slowly rising water.

Before he could do anything, from around the bend, a giant flood of water came crashing down, and slammed into the vampire lord and minions, and swept them away.

Rika smirked.  "See ya later chumps."

Her victory celebration was cut short when Takato jerked awake again, screaming.

"NO!" he shouted.  "IT'S MINE!  IT'S NOT YOUR ANYMORE!!  IT DOESN'T WANT TO BE YOURS ANYMORE!!  I DON'T WANT TO BE USED ANYMORE!!  NO!!!"

Rika frowned at the raving Takato.  "He's not going to last much longer.  We've got to him to Rivendell."

***

_Takato Matsuki, for most of his 18 years of life, had just been a rather ordinary boy.  Well, aside from the lack of a Digimon of course._

_Grow up, get toys, have birthday parties, eat, hug parents, get crushes, have best friends._

_But in his  delirium, as he sank into the darkness,, memories emerged, memories that came from before his birth.  Of terror, chaos, pain, and then a human body._

_Takato Matsuki cried out in pain as he sank deeper and deeper._

_Until a light burst through the darkness, and an angel descended.___

_She now appeared as a Digimon wearing yellow armor, and long white hair, and welding a staff, with a fox head similar to her own armor._

_She walked towards Takato, and stared at him for a moment.  Then she reached toward Takato's head, and snapped his goggles._

_"Ow!" Takato winced, and his mindscape dissolved around him-_

***

Takato's eyes opened, and he saw Rika leaning over him, face mere inches from his.

Takato yelped and in the automatic male reaction awkwardly crawled backwards.

A moment later, Rika sagged forward, but Kyuubimon caught her with her head.

"Are you okay?" Kyuubimon asked concernedly.

"Yeah, just a little drained.  I had to go directly into his mind and wake him up," Rika explained.  "But there is something strange about his soul.  As if it is not entirely… human."

Kyuubimon, if she had had eyebrows would've raised one.  "How so?"

"There is just something that is not… right for a mortal, _or an immortal's soul."_

"Have you ever gone that deeply into someone's soul?" Kyuubimon queried.

"No, not without their permission, or when they were unconscious, with all the barriers down.   But there are other things that just… off."

She looked at Takato.  He was on lying on the rocks of the river bank, face still pale, but his breathing was easier than it had been for a few days.

"We don't have time for these questions.  Come on; let's move on before any of those creeps swim back upstream."

End Part 1

So, that's part one of this fic.  I just got the idea for this thing, and my mind kept focusing on it, so I decided to type this up.  Anyway, please read and review, and tell me whether I have any discernable writing skills.

I'll get the next part out whenever my muse starts giving more ideas.  Also, my own personal muse hasn't taken a single form yet, so he/she/it can't appear.  I threw all the canon characters out after they wrecked my TV.


	2. Book II:Quest

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.  For those of you who haven't read the Lord of the Rings (an excellent series I highly recommend), there are three books, and each book is split in half, each called a book (veterans of the actual novels know what I mean), so I'm calling this part Book II because of that.

Thank you for the reviews, and I'll try to get to the end of book IV before the next movie comes out.

***

_Takato dreamed.  He thought he saw faces.  The angel's face, as he had first saw her, and an old man, or was it a young man?  Davis, his mother, his father._

_It was so peaceful, without the shadows that had been plaguing him recently._

_Unfortunately, a giant red thing intruded itself into his vision._

***

Takato opened his eyes, to find Guilmon nuzzling him, like a common dog.  Then again, he did always call Guilmon "boy", so in a strange way, it made sense.

He sat up, and found he was in a very soft bed, with white sheets, and Guilmon seemed perfectly safe, so he assumed this was Rivendell.  Hell would be filled with sock puppets.

Napping in a corner in a chair, with his staff leaning against the wall, was Davis, looking none the worse for wear.

"Davis?" Takato asked, and was annoyed that his voice cracked.  His voice hadn't cracked since he was a teenager.

Davis jerked awake.  "Kari?" he asked dazedly, and then rubbed his eyes.  "Oh, Takato, you're finally awake."

"Finally?" Takato asked, glad his voice was recovering.  "How long have I been out?"

"Almost a week after Gennai fixed you up," Davis said, yawning.  "Man, you're made of tougher stuff than even your old man.  He said that a piece of the knife had been stuck in there, and it was digging deeper towards your heart.  A little longer, and you would've been a walking shadow."

Takato shivered at the mere thought of that fate.

"But the old geezer managed to dig it out, so you should be fine now," Davis concluded, clapping his hands together and standing up, and also waking up Veemon who had been napping by the foot of the bed.

"Five more minutes, mom," Veemon murmured.

Takato sweatdropped.  "I think he's been hanging around you too much."  His face turned serious again as he remembered something.  "Davis, what happened to you?  How come you didn't meet us in Bree?"  
  


Davis grimaced, but he was surprised (and relieved) that Takato's face showed more curiosity than accusation.

"Takato, there are many powers in the world.  And they all have a pecking order.  Let's just say a power higher above me in the pecking order got mad at me, and nearly killed me.  I barely arrived here at Rivendell a day before you did."

"Wow, who could do that to you?" Takato asked.

"Don't ask," Davis growled in a tone that said back off.

Takato rose up out of the bed, and stumbled, but Guilmon quickly helped him back up and he walked towards the balcony of the room.

He stepped outside to view paradise.

He was in a valley, but there was green as far as the eye could see, with quaint houses scattered here and there.  The place he was in was a mansion with intricate carvings, and an ancient feeling to it.

Takato felt a buzz by his hip, and saw his Digivice was still there.

"You are in the house of Gennai, Elf Lord," Davis said, a serious tone in his voice as he stepped out to stand beside Takato.  Takato noted he was holding his staff, and looked very solemn.

Davis stood looking at the scenery for a moment, before turning to Takato.  "Want to take a tour of this place?"

***

Takato was amazed by all the sights of the palace, as he saw fountains, statues, gold, silver.

When he had reached the first floor, he had been greeted with lots of cheering and crying as Jeri, Kazu, and Kenta had mobbed him.

Davis had handed them over to a tall Elf maiden, who had offered to show the four humans around, and Kazu and Kenta had been quite happy about the change.  Davis in the meanwhile, had gone off to talk to somebody else.

***

"You're sure," Gennai asked, in his young form, as he handed Davis a drink in his private chambers.

Davis nodded.  "Myotismon got to Kari with a Dark Seed, and she's gone evil, and is now loyal to Lucemon."

Gennai paced around the room as Davis went into greater detail of his escape from Isengard.

"This is very bad," Gennai said.  "With the lost of Isengard, and Kari herself, our forces are diminished, and theirs quite increased."

Gennai looked out the window, where Kazu and Kenta were examining another of the pools, as a servant was throwing salty nuts to the fish.

"A thousand years ago, we could've destroyed the Hazard Digivice," Gennai said sadly, regret in his voice.  "I wish Taichi had just destroyed it, but I think the temptation of the Digivice was a bit too much for even him."

Davis shrugged.  "I didn't get here til after that happened, but Tai doesn't seem so bad."

'Tai has many memories, and the guilt of Taichi weighs on him much," Gennai said.  "But that is the past, this is the present, and we have the Hazard Digivice sitting here in the middle of Rivendell, and you know what that means."

"Lucemon's coming over for dinner?" Davis quipped.

"Yes," Gennai said.  "We must get the Hazard Digivice out of here fast.  And that requires a council of war.  The Third Age is almost over, and I'm just about ready to retire and return over the sea.  The other races must own up to their destinies and defeat Lucemon."

***

While Takato enjoyed the company of his friends, many more peoples arrived at the central mansion of Gennai, where no spies of Lucemon could peek in.

Matt Ishida of Odaiba, representing the men who still guarded against Lucemon and Mordor, and who were the first (and last) line of defense against his hordes.

Janyuu Wong and his children, Henry and Suzie, of the Technomages, from the Lonely Mountain, where Takato's father had helped slay Dragomon.

They, and many others, all arrived, eager for news of the upcoming war.  Gennai and Davis presided over the conference, and they met on one of the outside pavilions of Gennai's mansion.

All told, there were about 20 people there, including Takato, with all of their partner Digimon standing (sleeping in Guilmon's case) respectfully behind the chair.

Gennai stood up, in his old form (he said it was more impressive for this sort of thing), to start the meeting, even though some of the Elvish representatives weren't there yet, but before he could say anything, a loud voice intruded on the gathering.

"You are _not_ making me go out in this, this _thing_!" came a semi-familiar voice from the hallway outside, and Takato leaned forward to see who it was.

His memory clicked just as a very attractive Elvish lady, in a tightfitting, sparkling dress (the types you see Galadriel and Arwen wear in the movies), being pushed out by another, older Elf with blond hair.

"Mother," Rika hissed, "I'm am not going to a council looking like-"  Rika suddenly seemed to notice that she was in the full view of everybody, and hastily turned, around, and gave a formal bow.

Kazu and Kenta, hiding in the bushes, were drooling at the sight of Rika, especially since her mother, the blond woman, had made Rika let down her hair.

Rika took her seat, along with her mother, Rumiko, her expression ice cold.

Takato, though most of the time he didn't really have an interest in girls, couldn't help but stare at the beautiful Elf maiden.  Problem was she noticed, and a quick glare in his direction made him snap his eyes back to the head of their council.

Gennai cleared his throat.  "Now that the last members of our little group are here, then we may begin.

"To summarize, we are in deep trouble.  Lucemon is awake again, and his armies are growing.  Hikari Kamiya has fallen to the dark side, courtesy of a Dark Seed, and now, after all this time, the Hazard Digivice has reappeared, in the middle of a nowhere country."

Takato scowled at Gennai calling Shinjuku that, but he had to admit that Shinjuku was pretty far away from all of the battles and such.

Gennai looked towards Takato.  "Will you please show them the Hazard Digivice Takato?"  
  


Takato didn't like it that they kept calling _his Digivice __the Hazard Digivice, but a quick nod from Davis, and Takato placed the Digivice in the middle of the table._

In the afternoon sun, the red and white metal of it gleamed as many eyes examined it.

Matt clenched his fist as he stared at it, visions of victory filling his head.  "This is destiny!" he shouted as he stood up and addressed the assembled.  "We will win, and now, when we need help the most, we get the most powerful Digivice ever created!"

"The only problem is that it is _too powerful," Tai said, halting Matt's speech.  "It won't work for us," Tai said, pointing at the Digivice._

"Then how do you explain that?!" Matt asked, pointing at Takato, and the sleeping Guilmon.

Takato shrugged.  "I don't know."

"What Tai is trying to say," Gennai cut in, "is that if you mean to use it at full power, the power to rip apart mountains, it'll totally corrupt you.  This boy is just using it as a normal D-Arc Digivice.  However, if he keeps using it for too long, it will eventually consume him."

Takato stiffened, but tried to keep his fear hidden.  He had the uncomfortable feeling that someone was enjoying watching him squirm, and he glanced out the corner of his eye to see an amused smirk on Rika's face.

And he had called her an _angel?!  He must've been delirious.  Well, he was at the time, but that's not the point._

"Anyway," Gennai continued.  "We have several choices.  Hide the Hazard Digivice, but Lucemon will eventually be able to sense where it is, and then we're in trouble if it is still here.  It is said that some of the older Dramons could've melted a Digivice of Power…"

Tai and Davis both stood up with eager expressions.

Gennai shot them a glare that made both of them sit down again.  "No, neither of your Digimon, even at their highest forms could do it yet.

"As I was saying, some of the older Dragon Digimon could've melted a Digivice of Power, but not even Dragomon could've destroyed this Digivice.  It is the largest concentration of darkness, chaos, and raw power on this earth.  If we are to destroy it, there is but one place.

"Reaper Mountain."  
  


That drew many gasps from the assembled.  "That's in the middle of Mordor," Janyuu said worriedly.  "There are many sensors, traps, and hordes of wandering dark Digimon.  I don't think an army could break through."

"But a small party could," Tai objected.  "Lucemon's defenses have always been aimed at beating back hundreds of defenders.  A small group of ten or so could sneak through."

"And I suppose you have personal experience with wasting warriors attacking Mordor, huh?" Matt shot back bitterly.

Takato couldn't be sure, but he sensed some deeper insult in the comment, and he saw Tai flinch.

"So, you think we should send a few people on a suicide mission into the center of the enemy's homeland?" Rika asked, speaking for the first time.

Tai nodded.  "It's our only chance."  
  


Rika gave a predator's smile.  "I like it.  And I volunteer to be one of the members."

"What?" Rumiko cried, shocked, but a quick glare from her daughter quieted her.  Takato saw them exchange a glance that said "Later."

Gennai nodded.  "The fate of the earth rests on the success of this mission, so representatives from each race should be present."

Matt stepped forward.  "So be it.  I have journeyed far from Odaiba, for the sole purpose of getting aid for our fight, but if this will decide the fate of Odaiba, I must go."

Henry glanced at his father, and with his assenting nod.  "I will stand for the Techno-mages.  We have had envoys from Lucemon coming recently, and they have been getting more and more insistent lately.  We will stand with you."

"Worse yet, they threatened to cut off our candy supply from Lake Town," Terriermon added, and Henry said "Terriermon!" irritably.

Gennai held up a hand as more people were rising.  "I shall decide on the party myself in private.  Before we adjourn, does anybody else have any news?"

"Yes," Rika added.  "Shouldn't we get a new bearer for the Hazard Digivice?  This boy wouldn't last a week in the Wilderness."

"Hey!" Takato shouted indignantly.  "I did fine on the way here!"

"Aside from that mortal wound you mean?" Rika smirked.  "The one Renamon and I had to rescue you from?"

"Renamon?" Takato asked.  "Who's she?"

"I am her partner Digimon," a voice said in his ear, and he jumped as he suddenly realized a tall yellow fox Digimon had appeared right behind him.

Rika continued smirking.  "Like I said, he is just a simple human.  He cannot be trusted with the burden of carrying the Hazard Digivice."

"I don't think we have a choice," Davis interrupted, and all eyes turned towards him as he stepped up.  "Takato Matsuki wasn't born with a Digivice, an extreme rarity, but instead received this Digivice from his father, where he acquired it on an adventure I shared with him."

Davis' eyes clouded for a moment as he recalled fond memories, but quickly got back to the present.  "I think it is Takato's destiny to hold this Digivice, and to decide its fate."

"We make our own destiny," Rika said defiantly.

"Well, yes," Davis conceded.  "Besides, I don't think it would let anybody else _but_ Takato carry it."

Rika snorted.  "Yeah, like it has a mind of its own."

She stepped forward, and grabbed for the D-Arc, but to everybody's great surprise she cried out as the Digivice glowed with power, and she was thrown back into her seat.  Guilmon suddenly awoke, and ran to stand between Rika and the Digivice on the table.

Rika struggled back to her feet, snarling.  "What was that?"

Davis shrugged.  "I guess it doesn't like you very much."

There was another problem as Guilmon seemed to be advancing on Rika and Renamon.

Renamon stood in front of Rika protectively.  "Guilmon, what is with you?  It's me, Kyuubimon remember?"

Guilmon slowed, but Renamon still stayed on her guard.  The look in Guilmon's eyes was completely bestial, a primal instinct that no Rookie should have.

Before Guilmon could go any further, Takato was by his side, pulling Guilmon back physically.

"Sorry, about that," Takato apologized, as he strained with Guilmon.  "He gets like that sometimes."

Renamon, remembering a conversation from earlier, said "Guilmon, we have barrels of peanut butter here!"

Everybody stared at her.  "What?"

She sweatdropped.  "Sorry, I thought it would-"

She stopped when she noticed that Takato was no longer struggling with Guilmon, as Guilmon seemed to shift from a feral dinosaur to a cute overgrown baby.

"Peanut butter?  Where?!" he shouted eagerly, tackling Renamon, and lying on top of her.

Renamon pointed to her right.  "That way."

"Oh boy!" Guilmon shouted excitedly before running down the stairs, and from the yells, towards the kitchen.

Takato slapped his head.  "There he goes again."  
  


He raced off after his partner, but then he came back, and quickly pocketed his Digivice.  "Sorry, I'll try to stop him before he causes too much damage!"

Everybody couldn't help but stare stunned at the odd occurrences that had just happened.

Rika was the one who broke the silence.  She looked up at Renamon and asked "Peanut butter?"

Renamon just shrugged.  "He said earlier that he liked peanut butter."

Davis coughed.  "Though this is all very interesting, I think we have two very important things to do- first, let's leave Gennai so he can think, and two, we'd better go stop Guilmon before he devours the entire kitchen."

Another crash punctuated his statement, along with Takato's frantic cry.

As the various races dispersed, Rika stomped off to find the nearest dressing room where she could change back into her comfortable Elvish cloak and riding clothes instead of the ridiculous dress her mother had pulled out from somewhere.

***

After the rest of the council members had left, Gennai, Tai, and Davis headed into another room.

"Tai, will you be going with them on this journey?" Gennai asked as he headed towards a locked chest.

Tai nodded.  "A thousands years ago, Taichi made a huge mistake, and I still have to fix it."

Davis slapped his head.  "That was another life Tai!  So what if you made mistakes-"

Tai whirled around and grabbed Davis by the front of his shirt.  "Mistakes?!  You don't know the kind of mistakes I made!  First, I lost Sora to Yamato, then; I didn't melt that damn Digivice down when I had the chance!"

"Now, calm down Tai," Gennai said, as he continued rummaging inside the chest he had just unlocked.  "Davis doesn't need another life-threatening situation after he just barely got away from Kari."

Tai dropped Davis as his mind turned to other matters.  "I can't believe they got my little sister!  That Myotismon is definitely going to die!  Again!  And this time I'll make sure he stays dead!"

Davis calmly fixed his clothes, and then spoke up.  "What I wanna know how do we make her good again?"

Gennai, who had moved from searching the chest to his closet, said "That is a good question.  Kari bore the most holy of all the crests, Light itself, so we'll be hard-pressed to find a holy power strong enough to purify her.  Only Hope is on par with Light.  At least right now it is."

Gennai looked at Davis at that moment, and Davis suddenly found the floor very interesting.

"Anyways," Gennai continued, as he threw more stuff out of his closet, "Tai will definitely be going, and I assume you're going too, Davis?"

Davis nodded.  "I dragged Takato into this whole thing, so I'm going to see this to the end."

"Speaking of Takato," Gennai said, as he threw a rubber ducky out of the closet that nearly hit Tai's hair, "what do we do with him?  Let him keep the Digivice, or take it away from him?"

Davis shook his head.  "I'm not sure we _should take it away from him.  It is his Digivice now, and he can use it quite ably."_

"He does have a point," Tai agreed.  "He is able to wield it, and his Digimon, Guilmon, can be pretty dangerous if he wants to be."

Gennai paused for a moment in his searching, and then nodded.  "I guess you're right.  If everything Davis told me about the boy is true, then perhaps it is his destiny to rid us of the Hazard."

Both goggleboys agreed, and then Gennai gave a shout of happiness when he found what he was looking for, and pulled out a long box, emblazoned with a sun on it.

He stood up and turned towards Tai.  "Taichi Yagami, do you accept your destiny as the Digidestined of Courage?" he asked solemnly.

The other two blinked at the sudden serious behavior but Tai nodded.  "Yes, I accept."

"Then take up your destined weapon," Gennai said as he opened the box, showing an intricately carved sword.  The sword was over three feet long, and the golden hilt was shaped like a Wargreymon head.

Tai took up the sword, and swung it around once or twice, and was amazed at how light it was.

"When AncientGreymon and AncientGarurumon fell, they left behind several relics in the dust.  This sword was one of them," Gennai explained, as Tai slid it into his belt.  "It was meant for the Digidestined of Courage, who has always had strong ties with the Greymon line.  And remember Tai, though you are the reincarnation of Taichi, but that doesn't mean your fate will be the same as his."

Tai growled, but nodded grudgingly.  "I hope so."

"So," Davis said, tapping his staff impatiently against the floor.  "Who is going to go with us on our little picnic into Mordor?"

Gennai put his hand to his chin as he thought.  "Let's see, your main foes on the road will be the Nine Lords.  We know Impmon isn't at full power yet, though he can still cause ample trouble, but Piedmon and Myotismon are already at battle strength, and we know that means that there are at least two others wandering around if they're that bold already."

"Wargreymon can handle them," Tai said confidently.

"And if he can't Imperialdramon can," Davis said, backing up Tai.

Gennai sighed at the exuberance of the goggleboys.  "No, you would put up a good fight, and then you would die.  If you are going to survive at least until you reach the borders of Mordor, you're going to need more than just two Mega Digimon."

"So who else do you think should go with us?" Tai asked.

Gennai thought for a moment.  "I might send a few of the council members to Odaiba, but by a separate route.  They shouldn't be bothered by any of the dark Digimon if they appear as just random travelers.  Shibumi is already on his way to the citadel in Odaiba, and Janyuu will probably join him.  I've heard that their current steward, Yamaki, is one of the best geniuses mankind has ever produced.

"Nine people should set out.  Nine is a lucky number after all, and you will be the Nine Digidestined set against the Nine Black Lords.  Takato and his friends are already four, and you two will make six, leaving room for three more.  Matt will probably want to join you, and I have another item for him too, so he will be a powerful member, since his Digimon can easily match Wargreymon.  Young Henry Wong is one of the rising stars of the Techno-mages, and his Terriermon, though annoying, can biomerge with him.  And I think Rika Nonaka will make a good final choice, especially as she already volunteered."

Tai groaned.  "We have to travel halfway around the world with _her?!  Do you know what she does to anybody who makes her mad?"  
  
Gennai held up a hand to stop Tai.  "Yes, I know that she isn't the nicest person in the world, but an Elf should be there, and you'd be hard-pressed to find another Elf more suited to go.  We were never the most warlike of races, but she _likes_ war, so she'll be willing to go."_

Tai slapped himself in the head.  "Yeah sure, whatever."

Davis gave a weak smile.  "Well, look at the bright side."

"What bright side?"

"Gennai could've decided to send both Rika and Ryo on this trip."

Tai winced.  "We wouldn't make it to the Drive Pass before she would try to kill him."

Gennai clapped his hands once.  "Now that that's decided, let's go gather your party to tell them the good news.  You may rest here for a few days, but in one week, you should go before the enemy gets wind of our plans."

***

Kari strode into her throne room, which had recently been 'renovated' by the duel between her and Davis.

On a pedestal in the center, an orb sat, crystal clear, until a rather angelic face appeared it.

"Hikari, report."

Kari bowed once quickly.  "Lord Lucemon, Davis was able to escape, but his power is diminished."

"I am surprised that the Digidestined of Light was not able to defeat a mere second generation Digidestined.  Especially when she is surrounded by Dark Towers."

Kari's hand tightened around her staff, but that was her only sign of frustration.  "His Golden Armor Digimon was able to thwart my efforts to exterminate him."

"No matter, he most likely will be journeying with my Digivice's carrier, until the brat carries it back to me, and then my resurrection will be at hand.  I will be sending out my Royal Knights to intercept him, and, Hikari, if you wish to truly serve me, I want you to create the most powerful warriors this Middle-Earth has ever seen."

Lucemon's face was covered once again by his wings before the image faded again.

Kari stood there for a moment, before she stomped to a lower level, the enslaved BlackSeraphimon following her.

"If he wants a bunch of super-powerful Digimon, I'll give it to him," Kari said as she stared at the 20 statues in the room.  "I'm sure the Ancient Digimon wouldn't like their Spirits being used like this, but since they haven't moved in the last century, I'm sure they won't mind, don't you agree, BlackSeraphimon?"

The fallen angel didn't reply, and just followed her as she left the room.  Kari snapped at a Black Ring wearing Bakemon "Bring me all the dead human bodies you can find!"

***

Tai stood in the twilight of the day, just enjoying the peace.  Tai had grown up in Rivendell, and feared that this might be the last time he would ever be here.

"Penny for your thoughts?" a voice asked from behind him, and Tai looked behind him, and then did a double take.

There stood Sora, wearing a white dress, showing very little skin, but still hinting at many curves.  Tai could count the number of times Sora had worn that kind of dress on one hand, so this was definitely an important event.

"What's the occasion?" Tai asked, trying to keep his eyes to himself- and failing.

"I know that you're going to go on the quest to destroy the Digivice," Sora said, walking towards him.  "I know that you're going to be facing temptation, and I just wanted to see you off before you left."

Tai stood and turned away.  "We already went through this a thousand years ago, so I don't think we need to do this again, do you?"

Sora sighed.  "Tai, that was another lifetime ago.  I chose Yamato a thousand years ago, but a thousand years changes a lot of thing."

"I saw the way you were looking at Matt," Tai said, before his voice softened.  "I thought we might've had a chance, but I don't want to stand in your way Sora-"

Tai was surprised when Sora's arms wrapped around him, and she leaned her head on his back.

"Tai, just because we're reincarnations doesn't mean history has to repeat itself.  I loved Yamato, but I loved you first but…"

"I was too damned scare," Tai said and snorted derisively.  "Me, the Chosen of Courage."

"We're only human, Tai," Sora corrected.  "And having Courage doesn't mean that you can't feel fear, you just have to overcome it."

Sora paused for a moment, a moment that Tai wanted to go on forever, because it was perfect, with Sora there…

"Tai, I think that if I had chosen you, then you would've had the willpower to destroy the Hazard Digivice a thousand years ago," Sora said quietly.

Tai winced.  "So, to make sure that this time that I don't go power-mad, you'll say you love me?"  
  
Sora shook her head, and turned Tai around slowly so they were facing each other now.

"No Tai," she said firmly.  "Because I don't want to lose you again.  I made a mistake last time,

a mistake that had repercussions for all of Middle-Earth.  I was tired of waiting, and decided to take the next best thing."

"My best friend."

Sora nodded guiltily.  "Tai, please, I've lived for nearly a thousand years regretting that decision, not because of what you did afterwards, but because I missed my best friend."

"Only your best friend?"

"And my true love," Sora said, her eyes watering just a little.

Tai couldn't help himself, as he leaned his head down, and for just a moment they shared a brief kiss before he pulled away.

"I'm sorry Sora, but I can't," he said.  "Not yet.  Not when I'm going to leave soon."

"I'll wait for you," she said.  "I've waited a thousand years, I can wait a few more months.  Besides, I'm not going to just stay here and sew either."

"What about Matt?" Tai asked, his voice hardening.

Sora nodded sadly.  "I don't want to hurt him, but, the spark between us died.  He's still the same Yamato, but I just don't have any love for him anymore.  Friendship, yes, but not love.  I just hope he understands."

"Sora, the Elves are leaving, once this war is over, for better or for worse, the ago of the Elves will be over.  Whether you want to or not, you can't stay here."

"Not unless I give up my immortality," Sora said.

Tai whirled around, surprised.  "Sora!  You cant' do that, not just for me!"

"Yes, just for you," Sora said resolutely.  "I promised myself that if we ever met again, here, in this mortal plane, that I would stay with you as long as possible, even if I had to stay behind when the others left."

"Sora…" Tai stirred into her eyes, and they almost kissed again, before Tai pulled back.  "Sora, I promise, after this is over, I will, will, do something!  I'm not sure what, but I will do it, and not just stand by like before."

"Tai…" Sora reached for him, and Tai gently took her hands.

"Sora, with someone like you here, I _will_ come back!" he said confidently.

Sora laughed.  "Who said I'm going to stay here?  I'm going to fight too, after all, I'm a Chosen too."

Tai stroked her pointed ears.  "Sora… I love-"

Sora placed a finger on his lips.  "You said later, Tai.  But just to give you a little motivation…"

The two locked lips once again, two crests shining beneath clothes.

A little away from them, a blond warrior watched grimly.

***

Takato, being the curious young human Tamer that he was, had decided to explore.  He would've been exploring with his other friends, but Jeri had made many friends among the Elves already, so he hadn't wanted to bother her.  Kazu and Kenta weren't suited for the quiet type of wandering he wanted to do.  Guilmon came along with him, of course, but he was pretty quiet, considering the huge amount of bread he had ingested earlier.

He had entered a part of Gennai's house that seemed very ancient, and was deserted.

He passed by a room, and then backtracked as he spotted something inside.

"Whoa," he gasped, as he stepped inside and walked towards the podium at the center, where two weapons rested.  A long white lance, with red trim, and a wide circular shield with a star symbol in the middle.

He picked them, and was surprised that they were so light.  "Hey, Guilmon, I wonder what these could do?" Takato asked, turning towards his Digimon, but was surprised to see that the red dino was sniffing at a corner.

"Hey boy, what is it?" he asked, walking over, still carrying the weapons.

Guilmon's head was moving around, and then he seemed to swat a claw at empty air, but Takato heard a distinctive impact as he hit something.

He was very startled when a tall yellow fox Digimon appeared.

"Found you!" Guilmon shouted happily.  "Wow, you're good at 'Hide and Seek.'  Want to play again?"

Takato realized that the fox Digimon was the partner of the redheaded Elf he had seen at the council earlier.  At the moment, she was looking rather irked.

"How did you find me?" she asked, eyes narrowing as she stared the red dino.

"I smelled you out, though it was hard," Guilmon said, pointing at his large nose.

The fox turned her head towards Takato.  "And what, may I ask, are you doing with those?"

Takato looked down at the lance and shield he had picked up earlier, and was surprised that now they were smaller.  Almost a perfect fit for him now, instead of a six foot tall guy.

"If I were you, I would put those back," said another voice, and Takato jumped as he looked towards a shadowed corner, and saw one of the shadows there rise.  For a moment, he tensed, but relaxed when he saw that it was a just a person wearing a cloak.  The voice sounded familiar now that he thought about it…

"Hey, you're that girl, Rika, from earlier!" Takato exclaimed, as the Elf pulled down her cloak showing the spiked ponytail.  "The one that saved me!"

"Yeah, so?" she asked, as she stepped into the dim sunlight that lit up the center of the room.

"Well, I never got a chance to say thank you," Takato said, giving one of his hyper-genki smiles.

Rika waved his thanks away.  "Whatever.  I couldn't very well just take your Digivice and leave you dying there."

Takato scowled.  "Will everybody stop trying to take it?  I mean, it doesn't seem so dangerous now, right?"

"Now, right," Rika said, "but an ambitious Digimon could use to easily digivolve to Mega if he wanted to."

Takato blinked.  "Really?  Whoa…"  He put down the shield, and pulled out his Digivce from where it had hung on his belt.  "Never knew it could do that.  But another thing I want to know is why it keeps shocking people.  It definitely didn't like Piedmon, and I don't know why it shocked you."

Rika glared at the D-Arc.  "I'm not the authority on Digivices, but if I had to take a wild guess, it's a security device."

"Security device?"

Rika nodded.  "Yeah.  For some reason I can't fathom, it's decided that it wants you, and only you to be carrying it- back to Lucemon it seems."

Rika reached towards him, and Takato instinctively pulled back his Digivice, remembering their earlier altercation, but she instead just picked up the shield, and walked towards the center and put it back in its original place.

"Will you put that lance back before someone finds you touching something you shouldn't?" she asked, pointing towards the remaining weapon.

"Come on, don't tell this is another thing that can cause the end of the world," Takato, pointing the lance upward so he didn't accidentally impale her or something.

"Not quite, but that was the weapon of the Royal Knight Dukemon, one of the followers of Lucemon," Rika said.

Takato blinked.  "Royal Knight?  But I thought they were the good guys!"

"Royal Knights usually are."

"Then how come he was on Lucemon's side?"

Rika sighed.  "Don't you know any history gogglehead?"

"Sorry, they didn't cover evil Digimon who want to take over the world in my high school history class," Takato said sarcastically.

"Okay, this is the story," Rika said, sitting down on a step.  "Lucemon is, or rather was, an angel Digimon from over the sea, where the Four Holy Beasts still dwell supposedly.  Originally, the high Elves and Humans both came from there too, and later on, a few more angel Digimon came, like Seraphimon, Ophanimon, Cherubimon.  Lucemon was their leader, and was extremely powerful, even though he was only a Rookie.  As the head of the holy Digimon, he had several Royal Knights personally serving him, including Dukemon.  The other two Knights came from over the sea with him, but they say Lucemon may have created Dukemon somehow after he arrived here.

"Anyways, Lucemon was a nice 'mon in the beginning, but then he started liking his power a bit too much, and didn't like how the world was developing, so he decided to start  enforcing a totalitarian state, with him at the head of it.  He learned the secrets of the Digivices from a couple of my ancestors, and then made his own- the one you're holding now.  Several of his original holy Digimon followers split off from him after that, like the Three Great Angels.  The two other Royal Knights, RhodoKnightmon and Dynasmon stayed loyal to him, even after he started slaughtering Digimon.  But Dukemon opposed him, and tried to fight him when he first showed his corrupt nature publicly, while he was holding court with several other races.  He tried to convince Lucemon to give up his insane goal- and then the other two Megas shot him in the back for 'treason.'  Delusional fools.

"After that, the Elves present managed to recover his weapons, the Garm lance and the Aegis shield, before Lucemon went totally berserk, and started the Great War.  They've been kept as a keepsake until hopefully one day, Dukemon gets reborn somewhere, so he can reclaim them."

"Do they still work?" Takato asked, swinging the lance around once or twice.  _Strange, he thought, __this seems almost familiar…_

Rika snorted.  "Nope, and believe me, I've tried," she said.  "Anyway, you _should put that back.  'Playing with holy weapons is not nice'," she said in a mocking tone, as if she were imitating someone else.  "'Holding those horrid things could break your nails.'"  Rika scoffed at an old memory of hers._

"I wonder what his attack was," Takato mused, as he swung the lance around once more.  "What would sound cool?  Hmm…"

"Come on, gogglehead, drop it," she urged as she stood up again and walked towards him as Takato reluctantly gave up the lance.

The redhead Elf placed the item back on the pedestal, and then walked towards the exit.  "I'd advise you not to come here again," she said over her shoulder, as Renamon loyally followed her.  "Sometimes the Elven guards can be rather jumpy."

She smirked when she heard a yelp from behind her coming from the gogglehead.

Takato looked around nervously after Rika left, checking that there was no one else there.

"Hey, boy," he called towards Guilmon, who trotted over to him.  "How many people have been here recently?"

Guilmon sniffed at the air.  "Well, aside from Rika and Renamon, nobody but us."

"Do you know how often they come here?" Takato asked.

Guilmon sniffed a bit more, and then leaned closer to the ground before answering.  "They came today, and the last time before was about three weeks."

Takato nodded and looked towards Garm and Aegis.  "Well, I'm sure nobody will really miss these two…"

***

Kari strode through the labs of the Isengard tower, filled with enough computers to make even Izzy happy.  And when Izzy had been there, he had been happy.  The room had been one of Izzy's main labs, but when Kari had forcefully 'evicted' him from her stronghold, he had left behind much of his data.

A group of Datamon, with an Ebemon overseeing them, all wearing Dark Spirals, were taking notes around a large pool filled with a strange liquid.

"Report," she barked.  The Ebemon came over to her, and bowed once.  "Lady Hikari, we are almost ready with the first finished product."

"How does he look so far?" Kari asked, the sound of her black staff tapping on the floor eerily loud in the laboratory.

"Well, as predicted, the Hybrid will be powerful, because of the fusion of the human body with the item, but we are unsure how much of the consciousness will be retained by the original human.  Reanimation is always a tricky business."

"How powerful will he be?" Kari asked, as they stopped in front of a smaller tank.

"Our projections show that he will be somewhere between a Champion and an Ultimate in strength, similar to how an Armor Digimon is a variation from the normal evolution line," Ebemon said.  "But he will be far closer to an Ultimate's strength than an Armor usually is."

"Excellent," Kari said, before noting the troubled expression on the Mega Digimon's face.  "And the catch is?"

Ebemon gulped, before saying, "Well, as you know, the Spirit's are the representatives of the Ten Ancient Digimon, and the Elements.  Also, each element has two parts, a human element, and a beast element.  Our Hybrid's primary form will be the Human form, as the Beast Spirit is very primal, and there will be a short adjustment period, during which, the Hybrid will go berserk.

"The problem is that, depending on the environment, their strength can vary.  We think that for nine of the ten spirits, the absence of their particular element doesn't lower their strength significantly.  But the spirit of darkness is far more susceptible to this.  For instance, in a light-filled room, the spirit of Darkness barely gives off any energy, but when there is a large absence of light, it arguably becomes the most powerful of all the Spirits of that level."

Kari glared at him.  "Are you telling me that if someone shines a spotlight on him, the Warrior of Darkness will be helpless?"

Ebemon hesitated, then said "Basically, yes."

Kari stalked over to the vat holding the human form of the spirit of darkness.  "Well, we can't have that.  Ebemon, can the spirits be remolded?"

"With our resources, no," Ebemon said.  "If we gave any particular spirit a huge infusion of their element, it is possible that they would mutate, but whether the mutation would be an improvement or not is unknown."

"Well, then let's see how much Darkness this Spirit can take," Kari said, smiling maliciously as her raised staff glowed with dark power before shooting a dark beam of intense power at the spirit.

Its screams made everybody in the room, save for Kari and BlackSeraphimon, shiver.

***

"Now, son, I want you to be careful.  Hopefully I'll see you in Odaiba," Janyuu said to his son, as Henry hefted an axe.

"You'll bring back Terriermon, right?" Suzie questioned as she stared up at her older brother.

"Don't worry, we'll make it back, I promise," Henry said as he laid a hand reassuringly on Suzie's shoulder.

"Momentai, Suzie!" Terriermon said from his perch on Henry's shoulder.  "After all, we're just going into the center of the stronghold of the most evil guy since-"

"Terriermon!" Henry said, seeing Suzie's hopes were crashing at Terriermon's words.

"I will be back," Henry promised once again, before turning away, and heading for the gate of Rivendell.

He was so busy trying to walk away quickly, before Suzie could stop him, or before Terriermon could say something worse, he crashed into somebody walking around the corner.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Henry immediately apologized as he hurried to help the other person pick up their stuff.

"That's okay," she said, as she finished putting the rest of her stuff away.  She stood up again, and Henry noticed that she was quite pretty- for a non- techno-mage of course.  The techno-mages usually went through a bit of genetic modification before they were born, so though they weren't quite as numerous as normal humans, they made up for it in genetic potential.

She held out a hand.  "I'm Jeri Katou," she introduced herself.

Henry took her hand and shook, nodding.  "Right, one of Takato's friends that were coming along on the quest."

She nodded happily, glad that he remembered her.  They started walking out of Gennai's mansion, when Henry noticed that her pack was rather large.

"What's all that stuff for?" he asked, pointing at her bulging knapsack.

She blushed in embarrassment.  "Well, you see, you remember Guilmon right?"

"The peanut butter obsessed Rookie Digimon that nearly attacked Rika?"

Jeri nodded.  "Well, since we're going on an extended journey, we're packing a lot of bread for him.  If Guilmon doesn't get some bread every day, he's, well, it won't be a pretty sight."

Henry nodded, and then noticed the Digivice at Jeri's belt.

"Where you'd get that Digivice from?" he asked reaching for it, until Jeri slapped his hand away.

"No touching," she admonished, and Henry didn't get it for a few seconds until he noticed Jeri's shorts, and then he started blushing.

"Well, could I look at your Digivice please?" he asked again.

Jeri shrugged.  "Sure" and she detached it and handed it to him.

Henry examined it for a bit, and then took out his own Digivice.

"Hey, you have one of those too!" she said, when she saw Henry's D-Arc.

He nodded, as he continued tapping buttons on Jeri's Digivice.  "Hmm, I thought this looked familiar.  This was made by Techno-Mages."

"How can you tell?" Jeri asked, blinking.

"Here, hold this," Henry and handed Jeri back her Digivice.  "Now hold it up," and the girl did so, and then Henry pulled out a cord from his D-Arc, and connected it to another port in Jeri's Digivice.  Lines of binary started scrolling past on the screens of both Digivices.

"What does all that mean?" Jeri asked, the computer language flying past too fast for her to read.

"It says it was made by a Techno-Mage, one of the Lost Digivices actually, though I wonder how it transformed into a D-Arc form."

"Well, we found it back in Shinjuku, in this crypt, and it merged with my original one," Jeri explained.

"You know that this is a Digivice of Power, right?"

"What?" Jeri shook her head.  "Do they all look like this?"  She had heard Davis' explanation of the Digivices of Power back in Shinjuku, but it had been very vague.

"No, actually the Digivices of Power, or the Prime Digivices as they are more commonly known, can change configurations, its part of what makes them so unique and powerful."

Henry tapped his own D-Arc, and Jeri was startled when it seemed to remold itself, and was suddenly a normal white Digivice.

"You have a Prime Digivice too?" she asked.

Henry nodded, and then smiled wistfully.  "Most of the Prime Digivices have been lost over the centuries, in fact, the Techno-Mages only have two of the original Seven, and an ally holds another one, but I think this is one of the lost ones.  Did you see if any other Digivices like yours were there?"

"Well, Kazu and Kenta also got ones just like this," she said nervously.

Henry blinked.  "All of you had your Digivices assimilated?"

"Uh, yeah," Jeri said uncertainly.

Henry frowned in deep thought.  "Gennai said that things were coming to a head, and if almost all of our lost Digivices have been found, by the close friends of the Bearer of the Hazard Digivice, then I really hope the deck is stacked in our favor- cause even with all these Digivices, Lucemon still has an advantage in raw power."

"Uh, wouldn't you want them back?" Jeri asked timidly.

Henry thought for a moment, and then shook his head.  "Nah, you guys can keep them.  But I don't advise telling any other Techno-Mages.  My family has always been more tolerant of the other races, but quite a few of our number look down on the other races, especially the humans, and wouldn't be happy about hearing mere humans holding some of our races' oldest and most powerful relics."

Jeri nodded, and smiled at Henry.  "Thanks."

Henry found himself blushing, and quickly turned his head away.  "Uh, no problem," he mumbled, as he walked ahead.

"Ya know, Henry, for a human, she's pretty cute," Terriermon said, before Henry covered his Digimon's mouth forcefully with his own.

"Terriermon, if you finish that thought, I am throwing out all the candy you snuck into my pack."

"Hey, how'd you find out about that?" Terriermon protested.  "Momentai!  I'm sure she doesn't mind."

"Yeah, but I do," Henry grumbled.

***

"'Let's see, cards?"

"Check."

"Food?"

"Check!"

"Bread?'

"Mmrph?"

"Guilmon, save some for later, we won't be getting much after this point," Takato pulled the bread away from Guilmon, and stuffed it back into his pack.

"Well, I guess that's everything," Takato said, fastening the latch on his pack.  He put the backpack on, and deemed the weight acceptable, and started marching towards the eastern gate.

"Are you going on a quest gogglehead, or a camping trip?" a snide voice asked from behind Takato, and he turned around to see the by now familiar face of Rika Nonaka, Elf, Tamer, and generally not a girl anybody should mess with.

"Well, I'm just trying to be well prepared," Takato said, gesturing at his overstuffed pack.  "Guilmon fights best when he has at least a semi-full stomach."

Rika snorted.  "No wonder the Digivice chose you, since you're too much of a moron to use it effectively."

"Hey, I can fight just fine!" Takato retorted, his hand going towards his waist and cards.

"Yeah, right," Rika snorted derisively.  She looked him over once, and then asked "Aren't you carrying any weapons?"

"Of course I am," Takato said, and shifting his pack a little so that she could now see the sword Tai had given him earlier.

"And how are you going to get to it quickly if we're ambushed?" Rika asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, I assume that while we're still near to Rivendell, we'll be safe, and after a few days, this pack is going to be mostly empty anyways, so then I can get it out easily."

Rika rolled her eyes.  "Only a gogglehead would come up with that type of logic."

"And what's the big deal about goggles anyway?" Takato asked, adjusting his own set of goggles  self-consciously.

"Well, considering two of the most powerful Digidestined wear goggles, and you just incidentally also happen to be wearing goggles, I assume that you also share quite a few traits with them, including arrogance, idiocy, stubbornness, and bullheadedness.  And the ability to land in trouble quite often."

Takato frowned.  "Hey, I'm not like that, well not all the time."

"Three goggleheads, if we weren't trying to save the world, I wouldn't even be going."

"But I thought you wanted to go?" Takato asked, remembering the Council meeting.

"Sure, I wanted to go, but that was before I found out I would be stuck with Tai Kamiya and Davis Motomiya.  There's an unofficial law that those two aren't allowed to be in the same room for an extended period.  And add to that fact that Matt Ishida is also joining our little tour group means that this is _not going to be a nice vacation."_

Takato blinked.  "Why?"

Rika looked at him, about to say some scathing comment before remembering where Takato was from.  "Never mind, you wouldn't know about it, being from the middle of nowhere."

Takato protested "Hey-" but then dropped it, deciding that there was no way he could change the strong-willed Elf's mind, and that if they just continued on the current subject, he would just lose more face.

Knowing that they were going to be traveling together for quite awhile, Takato tried to change the subject.  "Uh, anyways, could you tell me what the big problem with Tai, Davis, and Matt is?"

"What am I, your history teacher?" Rika asked.  "But since I don't think anyone, except maybe a certain 'legendary' tamer deserves this kind of treatment, I'll tell you.

"Please pay attention, gogglehead, because I'm only going to say this once.  Okay, you know that Taichi defeated Lucemon a thousands years ago?

Takato blinked.  "Any relation to Tai?"

"You could say that.  Actually, Tai is the reincarnation of Taichi.  You do know what a reincarnation is, right?'

A stunned nod from Takato, as he tried to take in the news that and Rika continued.  "Anyways, before Taichi went off on the great big crusade against Lucemon, Taichi had a girlfriend named Sora."

"Sora?  Is the Sora that was with Tai her reincarnation too?"

"No, that's the same Sora that the original Taichi fell in love with."

"But I thought Taichi lived a thousand years ago" Takato started to say before Rika cut him off.

"Haven't you seen her ears?  She's an Elf too, just like me, so a thousand years isn't that long."

Takato eyes were just swirls at all this new information, but was valiantly trying to keep Rika from noticing.  Of course, from her satisfied smirk, he wasn't hiding his confusion very well it seemed.

"Does that mean you're a thousand years old too?" Takato asked shakily.

"No, I actually look my age," Rika said, amused.  "But don't get any ideas, gogglehead."

And now Takato was also blushing.  "What, what gives you that idea?"

"All that stuff you kept muttering about angels earlier," she said.  She then frowned as she remembered another mystery.  "And you also called me Ruki Makino, the Digimon Queen.  Where'd you hear that?"

Takato put a hand to his head, to try to remember the feverish race to Rivendell from Weathertop, but found that most of his memory was blank.  He shook his head.  "Nope, doesn't ring a bell.  Why, I thought your name was Rika?"

"Never mind," Rika said, and to change the subject, she continued with the history lesson.  "Anyways, Taichi was in love with Sora, which just about everybody but Sora knew, and same with Sora, with everybody but Taichi in on the little secret.  The problem was Taichi couldn't get himself to tell her, and instead ran off to war.  When he came back for a little vacation, he found his semi-girlfriend seeing his best friend, Yamato Ishida.  Now, Taichi wasn't exactly happy, but he thought Sora was happy, so he then ran off to war again, and actually defeated Lucemon.

"Some say that because Taichi wanted to please Sora, he kept the Hazard Digivice as a trophy, and you probably know what a big mistake that is.

"Now, here where it becomes like a soap opera.  Tai is the reincarnation of Taichi, and Matt is the reborn Yamato.  Now, after Taichi died, Sora broke it off with Yamato, as it had been mostly done to get Taichi interested in her, and Yamato died bitter about it.  Now, here we are a thousand years later, and their two reincarnations, who only partially remember the whole thing, and they are going along together with this quest, and who knows what Sora has said to either of them.  So, this isn't going to be pleasant."

Takato nodded, now understanding the barb Matt had thrown at Tai at the council.  "But what's so bad about Davis?"

Rika rolled her eyes.  "Goggle Boy II is one of a special Second Generation Chosen."

At Takato's blank expression when she mentioned the word Chosen, Rika gave a sigh of exasperation, and then explained.  "The Chosen are a highly select and special group of Digidestined, ranging across the various races, and also including one or two reincarnations.  Tai and his group are the First Generation, who fought in the last Great War.  Davis and his group arrived from over the sea, about 200 years after that, 800 years ago from now.

"The annoying thing is that he's almost a carbon clone of Taichi, and has occasionally been mistaken as Taichi's reincarnation.  He's brash, arrogant, and generally is a pest.  And those two get along _way too much for my tastet."_

(Author's note: I like Davis, but remember, this entire narrative is from Rika's point of view.)

Takato looked wounded at the insults to his old friend, but also decided to drop the subject, as Rika now looked interested in something else.

"You didn't do anything with Dukemon's stuff, right?" she asked in a low voice, as she leaned closer to him.

"Uh, no, of course not, he he, whatever gives you that idea?" Takato stammered.

She stared at him strangely, before looking him over once more, and then shrugging.  "Just warning you, we don't take kindly to thieves, and those two have a mind of their own at times.  They don't like it when strangers hold them for too long.  But since you could probably use the shield as a shelter, I really doubt you could carry something like that without anybody noticing."

Takato chuckled again nervously, as Rika walked ahead of him, with Renamon giving him one more piercing stare before moving forward also.

"But Takato, didn't you-" Guilmon asked before Takato clamped his mouth shut.

"Shh, Guilmon, I know its wrong, but I just feel its _right_," Takato said, and then fished in his pocket, pulling out a miniature Aegis and Garm.  "Besides, Rika said that they don't like it when strangers hold them too long, but they haven't shocked us or anything yet, so I think its safe."

"So its wrong, but its right?  But how can it be right if its wrong?" Guilmon pondered, and Takato sweatdropped.

"Listen, Guilmon, this is just a one-time exception, otherwise, every other time, what's wrong is wrong, and what's right is right, got it?"

Guilmon thought for a moment, and then shook his head.  Takato slapped his forehead before saying "Ah, just forget the whole thing ever happened, okay?"

"Okay, Takatomon," Guilmon said cheerfully.

Takato nodded, relieved.  "Good, cause I definitely don't want to have to face the Digimon Queen."

Takato had started walking forward when Guilmon asked "But why do you call her a Queen?"

Takato opened his mouth to answer, and then realized that he didn't know.

***

Kari looked at the five Digimon and five humans standing in a line in front of her.

"Ebemon, why are there only five humans?  I thought I specified that I wanted all of them to have human forms."

Ebemon winced, and prayed silently for his continued survival  "Well, you see, six of the spirits did assimilate the human bodies, and chose them as their natural form, and also modified the original humans' Digivices into a different model.  The other four didn't react with any of the human bodies at all, so we merely programmed them directly."

Kari frowned.  "You said six of the spirits chose human hosts.  What happened to the sixth?"

"Well, the Spirit of Darkness absorbed one, but I'm not sure if the new form, Duskmon, even can dedigivolve into a human.  I think the infusion of darkness may have scarred its mind, but it is still loyal to you."

"Have you tested their strengths?" Kari asked, examining each Digimon.  The five Digimon looked competent, while the other humans looked completely normal in some clothes they had dug up from somewhere.  But where did the boy with the red jacket find a pair of goggles?!  Didn't the world already have enough goggle boys?!  Kari just shrugged the matter off as somebody's idea of a joke.  Though she made a note to kill that person later.

"Well, their strengths meet our projections, though Mercuremon's style of combat depends more on the strength of the opponent, but still very effective.  The only anomaly is Duskmon."

"Who cares about strength, just as long as everybody knows I'm the fairest of them all?" the blue Digimon said as she admired herself in one of Mercuremon's mirrors.  "Much more attractive than that blond bitc-"

"Why I oughta-" the blonde human shouted as she sprang towards the blue Digimon, before the goggle boy managed to restrain her, though barely.

"Come on, Izumi," he said, as he struggled to hold her back, "Lady Hikari is here, you don't want to make a bad impression, do you?"

"This coming from the little baby?" Izumi retorted as she got out of the chokehold and turned to face him directly.

"Baby?!" Takuya shouted incredulously.  "I was created first!"

"Yeah, but you were originally born three months after me!" she shouted triumphantly.

"What difference does that make?"

"Everything!"

"Well, does that mean we should listen to Junpei or Tomoki more then because of their ages?!"

"Of course not, they know their places, you don't!"

Kari sweatdropped as Izumi started slapping Takuya around, which led to more shouting from the other humans, except for the blue dressed one who's face basically said "I'm too cool to be seen with you".

"Well, as long as they can lead my armies, I guess the project is satisfactory," Kari said, as she left the bickering children to themselves.  "Well done, Ebemon."

Ebemon sighed in relief, before suddenly finding himself being lifted up by the neck from behind.

"Wha?" he managed to get out before he managed to turn enough to see a black sultry dressed woman Digimon.

"I'm sure you remember Gatomon, though she's Lillithmon now," Kari introduced.  "It took me awhile to convince her, but it wasn't that hard."

"But I thought I succeeded," Ebemon managed to say, as Lillithmon's hand, belying her appearance, slowly choked him.

"You did, but it wasn't perfect, and I want everything perfect," Kari said, ,as she held up her glowing staff, which was now pitch dark.

"Please, mercy," Ebemon said, as he stared straight into Kari's now ebony black eyes.

Perhaps it was a trick of the light, from the chemicals in the lab, or something else, but for just a moment, there was a glimmer of color in those eyes, and then the staff lowered again.

"Release him," Kari ordered, and Lillithmon dropped Ebemon.  "Don't fail me again."

Kari walked away, followed by the unholy duo of both BlackSeraphimon and Lillithmon.  She shook her head, as if to clear it, but then strode purposely forward, to plan her attack plans, not noticing the tiny glimmer of a crest mark above her heart.

***

"I wish you all luck," Gennai said, as the Fellowship of the Digivice stood in front of him, grim expressions on most of their faces.

"There's isn't anything else I can do for you, after this point," he said.  "You nine are some of the most powerful Digidestined and partners ever.  If you can't do it, then no one will.  Good luck."

They all nodded, and then turned away from the beautiful valley towards the wasteland to the east.  This was it.

"So, are we there yet?"

"Terriermon!"

Takato shook his head, and then held his Digivice tightly.  "I hope I survive this."

To be continued…

Well, after about, three months, give or take, here's another chapter.  I'll get the next one whenever, as my muse-

Trimon: Hi everybody!

Meet Trimon, rookie level, attacks, combo shot.  At the moment, his main champion form is Pyramimon, attack, Sandstorm Wave.  I'm still thinking up his Ultimate and Mega forms.  Its so hard to think of an original muse these days, as it seems almost all the good ideas have been taken.

Trimon: Well how'd you come up with me then?

Well, I was hanging this clock above my sofa, when I slipped and fell, and I had a vision.

Trimon: Of what?

A giant steak, but considering that no one would take a steakmon seriously, I came up with you in my second vision when I knocked myself out again after slipping on that sock.

Tri: ^-^; (sweatdrop)

Oh well, now that I've got an imaginary muse like the rest of the great authors, I can finally get around to writing seriously.

Tri: But, AF, that's what you said last month.

Quiet you!  Or no more Kingdom Hearts!

Trimon: I'll be quiet.  But I was just about to hit that major Sora x Kairi scene!  Wait, that sounds wrong in a Digimon fic.

Never mind, for those of you who haven't played Kingdom Hearts (I'd even recommend getting a Playstation 2 just so you can play this game), Sora's the main boy character, while Kairi is his semi-girlfriend.

Anyways, see ya next time!


	3. Book II:Sacrifice

Disclaimer: This is a test of the public disclaimer system, which goes off anytime a fanfic writer, such as myself, uses characters that he doesn't own, which unfortunately belong to somebody else, in one of his stories..  If you don't hear a beep in the next ten seconds, please call your local television stations to report this discrepancy-

Trimon: I've got the candy!

AF (Anime fan): Whoo-hoo!

Trimon: When did you start calling yourself AF?

AF: Well, I got bored of typing my full name, so just call me AF now.

Trimon: Didn't Epsilon say in that omake that "Anime fan" was a pretty stupid pen name?  Maybe you should think about changing your name.

AF: Well, I'm too lazy to do that now, maybe during the summer.  

Trimon: By the time you post this it _will_ be the summer.

AF: Maybe, maybe not.  And that's if I can post it all, considering that ff.net seems to go down every summer for some reason or another.  I've got to remember stocking up on fics.

Trimon: So, have you finished thinking up new forms for me yet?

AF: Yep!  It took a few more knocks to the noggin, but I have!  And your new forms even have hands, so you don't have to bother levitating all the stuff with your psychic powers anymore!

Trimon: (looks at the floating boxes of leftover Halloween, Easter, and birthday candy): And people ask if I'm a Starmie, and if you're a Pokemon trainer.

AF: I will be once I get my hands on Pokemon Ruby!  Or Sapphire!  Whichever one I can get, or even better, both!

Trimon: You're insane.

AF: That's why it's your job to keep those scary men with the white jackets away.  Anyways, now your Ultimate form is Elemmon, short for elements, and you can control the elements basically, since you'll look like a walking star with hands.

Trimon: In other words, just like Starmon?

AF: Don't bring that up, I'm saving my real creativity for your Mega form, Pulsarmon!

Trimon: (eyes go shiny) that one actually sounds cool.

AF: One of these days, I'll get around to describing him, or drawing a picture of him.  Or get one of my friends to draw him, and I'll post it somewhere.  For the moment he's just this celestial being, and I mean celestial as in from the stars, not heaven.

Trimon: You know we've just wasted a page talking?

AF: I plead temporary insanity!

Trimon: Temporary?

AF: Sorry readers, all five of you, for this excessive rambling, but I needed to let off some steam about something, so, before you go away, here's the story!

To clear up any confusion, the second book will be two or three chapters, as I put the entire half of the first book in one chapter, but the 2nd, longer half, will be cut into several chapters, so book II will last several chapters, unlike the first Book.

And to Serpentreize, sorry bout the review thing, I turned off the "only signed reviews" button (I had forgotten it was still on) and thanks for correcting me about Dukemon's lance's name.  I had it mixed up with Garmmon from the fourth season.

Part III: Sacrifice

"I spy with my little eye something… white!"

"Snow?"

"How'd you guess so fast?"

Renamon shook her head, wondering what she had done to deserve being on guard duty with Guilmon of all people, er, Digimon.

Then she remembered that they had drawn lots for duty, and thus she had been temporarily partnered up with Guilmon.

She glanced at the group which was hunching in the snow, keeping up a low fire, courtesy of Flamedramon and Agumon.

Tai stood up and stared around their surroundings.

"So, which direction do you think we should head, Tai?" Davis asked from beside him, clutching his cloak tighter around him.

Tai tested the wind with his finger, then stooped to the ground, and fingered a few shreds of white snow, and then took out a small compass.

"Well, brilliant leader, what do you thing?" Matt asked from behind Tai.

Tai was silent for a moment before dramatically closed his eyes, spun around for a second, and then pointed in a random direction.  "That a way!"

Matt fell down, creating a small crater, before staggering up.  "_That's_ your idea of directions?"

Tai shrugged.  "The Drive Pass is north, but I'm not sure we should even be heading in that direction.  It's dangerously close to Isengard, and I'm not sure how much resistance we'll encounter if we head that way."

Tai's eyes narrowed.  "Besides, I don't know if I'll be able to face my sister yet."

Davis nodded in agreement.  "Me neither."

Matt snorted.  "So, our two leaders of 'Courage' have turned chicken?"

"Hey!" both goggleboys turned towards the Chosen of Friendship.

In another part of the camp, the Shinjuku Tamers were listening to Henry as he patiently explained the other functions of their Digivices.

"Bascially, these things are some of the most powerful computers ever created in the history of this world," Henry said, pointing to the collection of multi-colored D-Arcs on the ground.  "They're more advanced than even the D-3 models, and have quite a few more handy accessories."

"Like what?" Jeri asked from where she was sitting on his right, between Henry and Takato.

"Well, for instance, Terriermon, look at Guilmon for a moment," Henry said and the Vaccine Digimon, who was too busy shivering to make any snide comments, just looked in the direction of the Virus dino.

A screen appeared in the air above Henry's D-Arc, but the Technomage frowned at the words "No data" on the screen.  "That's strange, it should be able to analyze any new Digimon it meets, but it can't get a reading on Guilmon at all."

Takato rubbed his head.  "Well, you see, I sorta drew him up, so maybe that's why your Digivice can't analyze it."

Henry blinked.  "Drew him up?  Ooookkkaayy.  I won't ask.  Anyways, Terriermon look at Guardromon instead."

"You mean that of hunk of junk next to Kazu?"

"Hey!" Kazu protested.  "Guardromon is not a hunk of junk!"

"Yes I am!" Guardromon said confidently.  "You've called me that lots of times, remember?"

Kazu stared at the Champion for a moment, before dropping his head and sighing.  "Never mind."

A picture of Guardromon appeared over Henry's D-Arc, but this time, unlike Guilmon, there were words at the bottom of the screen, along with a short description.

"Okay, this button shows you his attacks, his type, and his possible evolutions," Henry said, tapping at several buttons at the bottom.

"Hey Henry, can you explain why these things can actually modify our Digimon with the effects of our cards?" Takato asked, as he held up one of his favorites, a Hyperwing card.

Henry blinked.  "You already knew about that?"  He decided to ask about that later, but seeing the rapt attention of the others, he decided to continue with his tutorial.  "Have any of you others used your cards?"

Kazu and Kenta both raised their hands proudly.  "Yeah, I got Guardromon to hit this stupid tree I never liked with Terra Force!  It was one of the coolest things ever!"

"Yeah, and then MarineAngemon here just froze all the rubble, and then we just shattered it!  No muss, no fuss," Kenta added.

Henry noticed that Jeri was being quiet, especially compared with the enthusiastic Digimon fan boys, and then asked, "Hey Jeri, have you tried it yet?"

Jeri's head jerked at being addressed, but then answered in a sly voice.  "Well, no, I wasn't sure that Leomon could handle it, and some of the attacks are pretty weird."

Henry nodded, approvingly.  "Good."

Kazu and Kenta's jaws both fell open.  "What?"

Henry frowned at them.  "Don't you understand?  The D-Arcs can manifest the effects of the cards, but it is a double-edged sword.  You said you had your Guardrmon use Terra Force?  Well, what would've happen if it had lost control of it?  Just slashing the card doesn't give him the innate knowledge of how to use it, like a real WarGreymon would have.  Also, it drains a Digimon energy, and too many cards can be fatal."

Kazu and Kenta both cringed as Henry berated them.

"Now," Henry said, picking out a random card from his own deck.  "You know that Digimon are partially manifestations of our dreams and imaginations, right?  Well, normal Digivices and D-3s just channel a partner's energy into their Digimon, allowing them to digivolve at will.  Now, our D-Arcs go a step further, it can also create the effects of the cards as well.  Basically, if you believe that the card will work, then it won't matter if it's a hand drawn piece of cardboard or a limited edition holographic card."

"Whoa," Takato said, as he shifted through his deck. "What about the cards other than attacks?"

"They're safer to use, as they take less energy.  Like, Terriermon could use this Brave Shield card," and Henry held up the card showing Wargreymon's shield, emblazoned with the Crest of Courage, "to easily deflect an Ultimate's attack."

"Or hide me from Suzie," Terriermon added.

"Who's Suzie, a girlfriend?" Jeri asked suddenly, wondering why she felt jealous.

Henry laughed.  "No way.  She's my little sister.  Though she's actually around 10, she likes to act like she's five occasionally, and at those times she dresses up Terriermon and her own partner Lopmon in "Princess Pretty Pants" clothes."

Terriermon twitched as they all imagined Terriermon in a dress.  They were all rolling on the ground with laughter within seconds.

"Hey, do you know how traumatizing it is being handled like a doll?!" Terriermon protested.

Only MarineAngemon nodded in sympathyc, as all of their other partners were ever in a cuddly form.

"Why don't you guys laugh louder?" a sharp voice scolded suddenly, and they all looked up to see the stern face of Rika Nonaka, hands on her hips.

Now that her cloak was open slightly, Takato could see a small card holder on her belt.  "You play the card game?" he asked surprised.

Rika looked at the scattered cards on the snow, and then at her own collection of cards at her waist.  "Yeah, and I bet I could whoop you in five minutes flat."

"Hey!" Kazu protested, stepping up to her, only to be pulled back by Henry.

"I really wouldn't advise it," he said in a stage whisper.  "She's so good that they call her the Digimon Queen of the Cards.  I can only think of one person, in any of the three races, who's been able to beat her-"

"What was that, brainiac?!" Rika snapped.

Henry turned back towards her, and held his hands in front of him to try to pacify him.  "Nothing, nothing."

Takato, meanwhile, was pondering the title of Digimon Queen.  For some reason it sound familiar.  He'd known that he had mentioned to Guilmon, but he had no idea where he had originally heard the term.

"Hey Rika," he asked.  "You aren't really an Elf Queen are you?"

Rika glared at him.  "And what gives you that idea?"

Takato shrugged.  "You were at the council, so I assume you had to pretty high ranked to be there."

Rika continued glaring at the young goggle boy, but though Takato found his resolve melting, he still stood firm.

After another minute of this, Kazu remarked "Man, this is like one of those weird animes where the hero and heroine first meet and stare into each others' eyes forever and eventually-"

Kazu quickly found himself on the receiving end of the queen's glare.  "He he, never mind."

Jeri gave a sidelong glance at Kazu.  "You watch those types of anime?"

Kazu sweatdropped, and his sweatdrop got even bigger when Rika's glare turned into a malicious grin.

"Why, Kazu, is there something you would like to tell us?" Rika said, smirking.

"Well, anyways, back to the original topic," Takato reminded her.  "Are you really some sort of queen?"

Rika's glare returned to the gogglehead, until Henry sighed.

"Rika, if you aren't going to tell him, then I might as well just to get this over with," he said.

Rika didn't look happy, but just nodded once before turning away wit a swish of her blue cloak.

Takato looked towards Henry now for the explanation, and luckily he didn't have to wait long.

"Rika's royalty, though she's not that happy about it," Henry said.  "Technically, she's a Queen right now, because both her mother and grandmother aren't quite fit to rule anymore, due to age, and, in her mother's case, personality, so she's the official ruler of an Elf kingdom."

Takato's eyes widened.  "Whoa…"  His sentiments were echoed by the rest of his Shinuku friends.

"Right now, her grandmother is acting as regent for Rika, while she travels around.  If it were up to her, she wouldn't even have any claim to the throne, but she still feels some obligations to her family."

"How'd you find out so much, Henry?" Jeri asked, as she leaned forward a bit.

Henry flushed slightly, and quickly adjusted himself so they couldn't see his face, but unfortunately Terriermon saw everything and grinned mischievously as he thought of the possibilities.

"Well, my family's been visiting Rivendell for years now, so we've met, and most of this stuff is gossip among the Elves at Gennai's house."

Jeri nodded in agreement, as she remembered some of the comments had made about Rika being made completely of ice.  She hated to say it, but now after spending a week traveling with the Digimon Queen, she had to agree with the rumors.  
  


Takato frowned.  "It isn't nice to say things like that behind people's backs."

Henry gave a helpless shrug.  "I know, which is why I don't indulge in gossip that much.  Most of this I found out from my father who found out from Gennai.  But some of the rumors about her are rather nasty."

"Ah, come on, I bet she can't be all _that bad," Takato said, and then stood up._

"Where are you going, chumley?" Kazu asked.

"I'm going to go talk to her," Takato said determinedly.

Henry's eyes nearly bugged out at that, while the rest of the group shuddered.  "Uh, Takato, are you sure that that's a smart thing to do?" Kenta asked, as he adjusted his glasses again.

Takato shrugged.  "What, its not like she bites right?  And she seemed okay when I talked to her before."

Henry still thought this was a bad idea, but decided to warn Takato at least.  "Its your funeral, but a word of advice- try to avoid any mention of the card game, as she'll then feel inclined to challenge and flatten you, and also, whatever happens, _do not mention the name of Ryo Akiyama within hearing range of her."_

Takato blinked.  "The guy who saved us back in Shinjuku?  What's so bad about him?"

Henry gestured for Takato to come closer, and then he whispered in Takato's ear "He's the only person to actually beat her at the card game, something that she is still pissed off about."

Takato winced.  "Okay, gotcha, the card game's a no-no with her."

Takato walked warily up towards Rika's back when she said "So, how much did visor-boy bet you to come here?"

Takato started, but quickly recovered.  "Uh, visor boy?"  
  


"Your moronic friend with the even more moronic Guardromon."

"Kazu?" Takato asked.  "He's not that dumb, and neither is Guardromon."

They heard a yell from behind them, and they both turned around to see Guardromon flying circles in the air above Kazu's head.

"Guardromon!" they heard Kazu shout.  "When I said let's take my Digivice for a spin, I didn't mean that!"

Takato sweatdropped.  "Okay, well, Guardromon just takes things a bit too literate."

"And who would wear a visor on a quest?" Rika continued listing the flaw of Takato's friend.  "And that's MarineAngmeon gotta be the weakest Mega I've ever seen.  And your girlfriend's deck is packed with good cards, but she doesn't have a clue about combos."

"Jeri's not my girlfriend!" Takato stammered, blushing just the littlest bit.

Rika finally turned around and smirked at him.  "Yeah, and I'm a fashion model."

Takato had to bite on his tongue from saying that she could be one, but the memory of her glares from before on her perfect face kept him from saying it.  
  


"So, how long till I sic Renamon after you?" Rika asked.

"Uh, please, uh, no need to do that, uh, I was just leaving," Takato said, turning around and starting to lift his right foot before remembering something he had glimpsed before.  "Uh, Rika, just one question, uh, what are you hiding?"

"WHAT?!?" Rika's voice had instantly turned subzero, and Takato could almost feel her gaze burning into his back.

He felt hands grab his shoulders, turn him around, and then hoist him off the ground.  Man, she really wasn't just a pretty face!

"Would you care to repeat that?" she growled out, holding him an inch off of the snow-covered ground.

Takato was almost shivering now, and it wasn't because of the snow.  "Well, its just that your eyes-"

"What about them, and if you mention anything about 'brilliant' 'piercing' or 'violet' we'll have to find a new Hazard Digivice bearer!"

Takato gulped, but figured he might as well finish what he wanted to say.

"Well, its just that I had a friend once, who was really hurt badly by her parent's death, and afterwards, she acted all happy, and normal, and smiled, but she was still hurting on the inside, and it took her years to heal."  
  


"And does it look like I'm smiling?" Rika ground out in a dangerously sweet voice.

"N-no, but it just that she kept on pretending that everything was okay, when it wasn't, but her eyes were just like yours, and I was just wondering who had died, or if he left, or-"

Takato couldn't say anymore as he was dropped right onto the cold snow as Rika let go of him.

He looked up directly into the violet eyes of Rika.  "Let's get one thing straight.  Just because I'm a part of this Fellowship that's supposed to protect you from Mordor doesn't mean that _I_ won't hurt you if you bring up my father again.  Got it?"

Takato nodded shakily, and then Rika stalked off.

"Man, chumley, you were so brave!" he heard Kazu say, as Kazu and Henry helped him to his feet and brushed off any stray snow.  "I thought she was going to get that fox of hers to just kill you the way she was looking at you!"

Henry shook his head.  "My friend, I really doubt we'll encounter anything more dangerous than her before the Drive Pass, so I commend you for surviving Hurricane Rika."

***

"That idiot, that moron, that fool, that, that, _gogglehead_," Rika spat the term as if it was a very vulgar swearword, and to her it _was._

"Are you okay?" asked a disembodied voice next to her that she easily recognized as Renamon.

"Does it _look_ like I'm okay!" she bit out.

"No," came the dry answer.  "But I must say I'm impressed."

"About that gogglehead's stupidity?"

"No, about his insight," Renamon answered.  "He's the first person besides me who has been able to see past your walls so easily to what's inside."

Rika stopped.  "Renamon, stop.  He left a long time ago, and I don't ever want to talk about him again, and I am _not letting Takato bring him up."_

"You didn't call him gogglehead," Renamon noted, causing Rika to stomp off in frustration again.

Reanmon, in invisible mode, watched after her Tamer silently for a moment before turning to the much larger group of Tamers behind her.

She hated to do this to Rika, but at times she still acted like a child, throwing tantrums.  And that boy had again surprised her and Rika by figuring out the truth about Rika's other parent so quickly.

***

They trudged up the mountain, the only colors for miles around on the white snowcapped mountains.

It took them nearly two days to reach the Drive Pass, but, then they met with the mother of all snowstorms.

"This is ridiculous!" Davis shouted, as he tried to keep his goggles from being blown away.  "This is the summer season, there shouldn't be any snowstorms like this around!"

"Unless Kari decided to just summon one up!" Tai said, as he cloak flapped in the wind (A/N: Think Taichi from V-Tamer )

"She can do that?!" Matt shouted over the wind, holding onto Garurumon.  Lucky for Gaururmon that he had a thick fur coat.

"She's the Digidestined of Light, she can do whatever she wants!" Tai shouted back, as he pulled Agumon out a snow pile he had fell in.  "Now all we need for this to be a complete disaster is for an avalanche to come down on us!"

***

"One avalanche coming right up!" Agnimon said, as he pounded his burning fists into the ground, causing more snow to melt, and more rocks to burst apart and go tumbling down the side of the mountain.

"Why does Lady Kari want us to just drop a few rocks on them?" Bolgmon (dub: MetalKabuterimon) said, as he rolled towards a border, picked it up, and then chucked it down the cliffs.

"They have several Megas in their party, and if you want to foolishly rush in and attack them, be my quest," Mercuremon said, as he tilted his mirrors to intensify some of the sunlight and then melt the snow.  "We are powerful, yes, but still no match for Megas."

"I just wished it weren't so cold up here," Shutumon complained, as she sent another gust of wind into the storm already brewing.

"Don't worry, Shutumon, with Blizzarmon on the job, this'll be over in a jiff!" Blizzarmon said as he stomped towards the edge, and then jumped up, shouted out "Avalanche Step!" and  brought his axes down onto the hard terrain releasing a whole landslide of rocks.

***

"You just had to jinx us, didn't you!" Matt complained as they dodged falling rocks.

"Its not like I knew it would start right now!" Tai shot back, as Agumon shot out a Pepper Breath at a large snowball above them.

Renamon herself was flickering in and out in the avalanche of snow and rocks, smashing rocks that headed towards Rika, and diverting snowballs that got too close.

"Watch where you push those things!" Takato shouted, as he ducked a large piece of snow that Renamon had accidentally pushed towards them.

"And could your own Digimon do better?" Rika snapped back at him, as Renamon continued teleporting to block the avalanche.

"I bet he could!" Takato retorted, and then shouted "Come on, boy!  Let's show her what we can do!"

Guilmon ran forward, and lowered his head and roared "Pyrosphere!"

A blast of fire came from Guilmon's mouth and smashed apart another large snowball, and then Guilmon rushed forward, and used his "Rock Breaker" attack to knock away the other boulders.

"That's it, Flamedramon, think you can go up there and find out what's causing this?" Davis asked his Armored partner, as Flamedramon stood next to him, surrounded by a fiery aura that basically melted any snow that came close.

"Agumon'll go with you," Tai said, and then in a bright flash of orange light, Agumon warp-digivolved to Wargreymon.  Though Veemon also could warp-digivolve, Imperialdramon might accidentally knock more rocks down (along with the rest of the mountain considering his size), and Flamedramon was more suited for this type of environment.

The two fire Digimon sped up through the falling debris, and neared the top.

Petaldramon looked over the side, and saw the two fireballs that were Wargreymon and Flamedramon.  "Uh oh, I think we've got company."

"It doesn't matter, we've cut off this passage for them," Mercuremon said, as he surveyed their handiwork.  "But perhaps our esteemed friend Duskmon could take care of them?"

Duskmon, who had been silent till now, stepped forward.

"I guess that's our cue to skedaddle," Agnimon said, as he slide evolved to Vritramon, and spread his wings.  "You just need to distract them Duskmon.  I doubt even you could handle a Mega."

Duskmon said nothing as the other Legendary Warriors there departed in their own ways, until only the Human Hybrid of Darkness was left.

He raised his two red swords, crossed them, and then said in a quiet voice "Conquest."

Darkness started expanding from his body, creating a dead zone that Wargreymon and Flamedramon crashed right into.

"What's going on?" Wargreymon shouted, as he tried to maneuver through the dark space.  "Flamedramon, you there?"

"Somewhere," came the dragon Digimon's voice from Wargreymon's right.  "What _is this?"_

Wargreymon sensed something behind him, and quickly whirled around and raised his two gauntlets and felt something metal slam into his armor.

Wargreymon took a blind swipe forward, and was rewarded with a slight grunt, and then the darkness retreated, leaving only Wargreymon and his friend on the mountain.

"What happened?" Flamedramon asked as he blinked his eyes to readjust them to the light.

Wargreymon shook his head as he thought about his brief encounter with that mysterious Digimon.  "I don't know.  Whoever it was, he was strong.  At least Ultimate strength."

"Whoever could block both of our sights would have to be at least that strong," Flamedramon agreed.  "We should get back to the others."

Wargreymon nodded.  "Yeah, Tai'll want to hear about this."

***

Tai grimaced after his Digimon related his story.  "So, Kari's got this passage under guard.  If we go any further, we're bound to be buried by another avalanche or ambushed by a small army."

"Isn't there another way?" Takato asked.

Tai thought for a moment.  "Yes, but I _really_ don't want to go back there."

"You don't mean Moria, do you?" Henry asked.

Tai sighed.  "Yep.  I definitely didn't want to go back there this lifetime or any other, but it looks like we have no choice."

"Ah, come on, how bad could it be?" Davis asked.  "I've heard the stories, but not all of them could be true, could it?"

"Most, if not all are true, including that apocalyptic Digimon," Tai snapped.

Rika snorted.  "Well, looks like the Chosen of Courage is chickening out."

Tai glared at her.  "If you'd been there before, you wouldn't be so skeptical."

He was quiet for another moment, before abruptly standing up.  "We have no choice.  We must go through Moria if we are to reach Mordor.  I just hope all of us survive this."

Tai didn't notice the glimmer of a mirror and the tip of a nose buried in a snowpile not far from the group

***

Kari blinked.  "You're kidding."

Mercuremon and Grottomon, still bowing, shook their head.  "No, me heard right," Grottomon said.  They is go to Moria."

"But that's mad!" Kari said, tapping her staff against the floor in frustration.  "No one who has gone in there in the last century has ever returned.  I was hoping he would keep going like the determined idiot he was and then we could ambush him!"

"It seems that the Chosen of Courage has left our little stage," Mercuremon said.  "Lucemon's forces now have the honor of facing and dying against them in battle."

Kari shook her head.  "But they may not survive and-"

Kari's eyes flashed for just a moment, and then she held her head for a moment, groaning, before standing erect again.

"No matter.  Moria is still inhabited by that Digimon.  I doubt he'll be able to kill them, and I'll be there to clean up after him.  Agnimon, Wolfmon!"

Two figures stepped out from the shadows.  "Uh, that's Takuya and Kouji," Takuya corrected.

She glared at them.  Takuya gulped.  "Uh never mind, Agnimon and Wolfmon, yep, that's us."

Kouji rolled his eyes at Takuya behavior.  "What do you want us to do, Laky Hikari?"

"Take a hundred Dark Ring and Spiral Digimon and head for Lothlorien.  I want you to ambush them after they leave Moria, and if they reach Lothlorien first, then ambush then when they leave."

Kouji nodded, and turned around.

"One more thing, take all ten of you," Kari added.

Everybody raised their heads in surprise at that comment.

"Uh, do we really need all that firepower?" Takuya asked uncertainly.

"When fighting the Digidestined, you can never have too many Digimon," Kari said confidently.

***

After a _really_ long detour, the Fellowship of the Digivice had arrived in a deep, dank, dark cave.  At the back of it was a tall door, covered with intricate carvings.

As they neared it, Takato tapped Henry on the shoulder.  "Uh Henry, one question?'

"What is it, Takato?" Henry said in a slightly irritated voice.  He was already on edge just being this close to Moria.

"What's Moria?"

Henry stumbled, and would've fallen into the pool of water, if Jeri, who had been closest at the moment, hadn't grabbed the back of his cloak.

Henry turned to Takato.  "You're only asking now?!?" Henry shouted, and then winced when Tai and Matt looked back at him, especially with the cave echoing his scream.

Takato winced.  "I'm sorry, its just that I heard of it in a couple of legends, but I really don't know that much about this part of the world.  My dad traveled north, not west."

Henry sighed, and tried to ignore the little voice in his head to "Momentai!"  Oh wait, that was Terriermon.

"Do we have to explain why the sun rises in the morning?" Rika asked sarcastically from behind them, where she and Renamon had been watching for any followers.  Neither of the pair could put their finger on it, but this cave gave them a bad feeling.

"Well," Henry started.  "Long ago, during the First Age, before the Digivices of Power had been forged, Moria was essentially the Technomage's capital.  There were other large cities, but none as developed as Moria was."

"A city?  Down here?" Kenta asked.  "How'd you do that?"

"My ancestors had built Moria deep under these mountains for three reasons," Henry said.  "One, defense.  There were still many primordial evils wandering themage's capital.  There were other large cities, but none as developed as Moria was."

"A city?  Down here?" Kenta asked.  "How'd you do that?"

"My ancestors had built Moria deep under these mountains for three reasons," Henry said.  "One, defense.  There were still many primordial evils wandering the world during the First Age, evils that I hope have been killed in the time since.  The mountains protected them from most of the monsters, and provided them a near impregnable fortress.  Two, resources.  Though we don't look it, we're really good miners, and there were many jewels and metal down here, diamonds, garnets, rubies, emeralds, gold, silver, and platinum.  Third, well, let's just say that my people have always done lots of experiments, and we didn't want any of the fallout to damage any neighbors.  One of them got loose, and that's why Moria was abandoned."

"Hey, you forgot to mention that mother load of ChronDigizoid metal," Davis called back.

"Oh yeah, you all know that ChronDigizoid metal is the strongest substance in the world, right?" and he received four nods.  "Well, most of the time, ChronDigizoid is created as part of a D:igimon's body when he digivolves, but here at Moria, my people found a deposit of _natural ChronDigizoid here, and used it to forge many weapons.  What more, its said that the ChronDigizoid discovered here was somewhat stronger than the other weapons created by digivolution, so our weapons were highly prized.  Even Dukemon's weapons, the Aegis and the Gram, was made from Moria ChronDigizoid metal, though he appeared long after Moria fell."_

Takato guiltily checked his pocket for the aforementioned weapons.  He had thought they looked shiner than normal ChronDigizoid, but had pegged it down to his imagination.  He wondered if Henry knew that the Aegis and Gram could also shrink at well, which was how they both fit in his pocket.

They had reached the door, and Tai had been examining intently for a few minutes already.

"Well, any idea what it says?" Matt asked.

"After careful examination and thought, I have now concluded that… I have absolutely no idea what it says," Tai finished, causing Matt to slap his head in frustration.

"I thought you had been here before?"

"I was here once as Taichi," Tai corrected, "so that was give or take a millennium ago.  And I came through the south gate, not the eastern one, and this one is still locked."

Tai turned towards the Technomage of their group.  "Hey, Henry, could you help translate this for me?"

Henry stepped up and squinted at the golden words.  "Let's see- 'Come weary travelers to the gates of Moria and just relax and speak the password.'"

"Password?" Kazu asked incredulously.  "How are we supposed to know the password to this dump if everybody who knew it died years ago?"

Henry sighed.  "Therein lies the problem."

Davis rubbed his hands together.  "Well, there are so many languages right?  I know several, Tai knows some more, so does Matt, and we've always got our resident Technomage and Elf expert on hand for some help."

And so ensued the wackiest guessing game in history as the group started shouting out words from "Open" to "Mellon" to "Open Sesame" to "Veni vedi vici" to "*%^&* door!" and other words that can't be said in a fic under R rating.

Finally, they all sat down in frustration on the rocks.

"Stupid, stupid, door!" Davis said, as he kept kicking it with his foot, until it got too sore to continue.

Rika and Renamon, who hadn't taken part in the guessing game were staring uneasily at the pool of water.  Was it their imagination or were their ripples in there.

Unfortunately, their observations were ruined as Kazu and Kenta started skipping stones across the surface of the water, causing lots of ripples.

"Stop that!" Rika ordered, and the two boys immediately stopped.  "I don't want to find out what's sleeping down there."

"Well, sorry!" Kazu said.  "We're just trying to relax like that door and Terriermon are always saying."

Henry jerked.  "Of course!"  He chuckled at the simplicity as he stood up and walked to the door.  "Now I've got it.  Momentai!"

And to their amazement, the door then creaked open.

Terriermon himself couldn't believe it and was silent- for all of two seconds.  "You see?  You guys should listen to me more often instead of telling me to be quiet.  The dog-rabbit knows all."

"Careful you don't let your ego grow bigger than your head, or else you won't be able to get the doors" Henry scolded as he walked through the door.

The rest of the group moved to follow him, when a tentacle shot up through the surface of the water and wrapped itself around Takato's leg.

"It's got me!" he shouted, as he frantically grabbed onto the closest thing, which happened to Rika's waist.

Rika was also yanked off her feet, but Guilmon grabbed her to stop Takato from being pulled under, and then Renamon grabbed onto Guilmon to keep _him_ from being pulled into the water.

"A little help here," she asked as she strained to keep the four of them above water.

Rika reached for her cards and quickly pulled one out and slashed it through her D-Arc.  "Digimodify!  Seadramon's Ice Blast Activate!"

Renamon let go of Guilmon with one paw, and held the other glowing one up.  "Ice Blast!"

An icicle flew from her paw, and hit the tentacle from where it rose from the water, eliciting a roar from the beast below and also freezing the surrounding water.

"You can let go, gogglehead," Rika snapped as Takato was still attached to her.

The goggleboy blushed and rapidly let go and turned towards the churning water.

A white squid monster thing rose out of the water, shattering the ice, and Takato only had time to identify it as a Gesomon, before it was reaching for him again.

Fortunately for Takato a Guardian Barrage courtesy of Guardromon hit Gesomon's right side, knocking the aquatic Digimon off balance.

"Everybody, inside!" Tai ordered.  "That thing's only the tip of the iceberg, we've got to get inside now!"

Matt looked ready to protest, until two WaruSeadramons rose out of the water behind Gesomon and also started going for Takato.

They all ran inside the doors, and quickly started pulling the doors closed when the serpentine bodies of both WaruSeadramon slammed into the doors, forcing them shut.

Tai sighed in relief.

"Did you notice that?" Matt asked wearily, listening outside for a moment more.

Tai nodded.  "Yeah, they went for Takato first."

***

After Davis had provided some light with his staff, the Fellowship moved onward through the dark passages of Moria, being very, very quiet.

While they walked, Tai still kept trying to remember which way to go.  As the only one who had been there, he was the unofficial guide currently.

Finally, they came to what could've been a guard chamber in yester years, but now all that was left was a skeleton next to a well.

"Well, this looks like as good a place as any to set up camp," Tai said, and promptly sat down on a relatively dry spot, and pulled out his blanket.

"So, Tai, do you have any idea where we're going?" Matt prodded.

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking," Tai snapped at the Chosen of Friendship.  "I haven't been through this part of Moria before, and my memory's still a bit foggy.  Anyways, a little nap will probably help.  Kazu, you've got the first shift."  
  


"What?!" Kazu protested, but Tai was already out like a light.

"Don't worry, we'll relieve you in an hour," Takato assured him as he and Guilmon also curled up to sleep.

"Easy for you to say," Kazu grumbled, as he leaned against Guardromon.  "Ah, just put a lid on it," he muttered.

"Okay!" Guardromon said brightly, and then walked over to the well, letting Kazu drop, and then pulled what was left of the original lid for the well from the side and put it on, knocking the skeleton and a long chain to fall down the well.

Everybody snapped awake, weapons out, but all they saw was a sheepish and angry Kazu and proud Guardromon.

Matt groaned.  "Next time, why don't you throw yourself in!"

"Sorry, it was an accident!" Kazu shouted.

"Quiet!" roared Davis, as he and Veemon laid back down.  "We're trying to get some sleep here."

Kazu muttered some more, but sat back down and faced the way they had come, keeping watch with Guardromon.

Most of the Fellowship was asleep, except for a few members.

Takato couldn't be sure, but he wondered if his night-vision had ever been this good before.  Shinjuku had never really been that dark, even during the night, with all the parties going on.  And was it his imagination or did he hear an insane giggling in the distance somewhere?

He slowly lifted his head, and checked on Guilmon, who was muttering about bread in his sleep, and looked around.

It seemed that everybody was asleep.  Wait, where was Renamon?

"Having trouble sleeping?"

Takato nearly shouted out at the quiet voice next to him, but managed to restrain himself, remembering the early incident with Kazu.

He looked up and saw the kitsune standing over him, also looking in the same direction as Takato.

"Has the gogglehead noticed him?" Rika asked from below her hood, still not stirring.

"Him?" Takato asked.

"That crazy little thing that's been following us.  You heard him just then, didn't you?" Rika asked again, raising her head.  Takato was surprised to see her hair wasn't up in its customary ponytail, but fell to her shoulders instead.  He figured that she only let it down when she went to sleep.

Takato nodded.  "I thought it was just an animal or something."

Rika shook her head.  "That's no animal, its definitely a Digimon, and its been following us since we left Rivendell."

"What is it?" Takato asked, and for a moment thought his Digivice had vibrated like some demented pager.

"I don't know," Rika said.

"I do," said another voice, and they both saw that Davis had sat up now.  "Its Keramon, the last owner of Takato's Digivice."

Takato blinked.  "The mutated thing that my dad met?"

Davis nodded.  "Yeah, after we all left, Keramon eventually followed us.  What you don't know is that Takehiro told Keramon where he was from.  Keramon hated the sunlight, but its obsession with the Hazard Digivice forced it to leave its little cave."

"What happened to it afterwards?" Rika asked.  "We would've heard of such a strange Digimon before in Rivendell."

"I don't know the whole story, but I think he followed us back as far as Mirkwood, and then turned West.  Towards Mordor.  I think that's how the Nine knew to look for Takato in Shinjuku.  Afterwards, he somehow popped up in Mirkwood, trying to get to Shinjuku, but the Elves there captured him as a favor for me.  But he got out again, and this is the first I've seen of him since."

Rika snorted softly.  "So now we have an insane Rookie after us, along with who knows what else is down here."

"Don't worry," Davis said when he saw the expression on Takato's face.  "There's no way he can match all of us at once, and even Guilmon could probably handle him alone.  And stranger things have happened.  He may yet do _something."_

"What?" Takato asked, hoping for another explanation.

Davis shrugged.  "I have absolutely no idea."

Takato sweatdropped, and then adjusted himself again.  "I'm going back to sleep.  I don't want to fall asleep on my feet later."

"Good idea," Davis agreed, and also laid back down besides Veemon.

"Renamon, keep an eye out, I don't expect that tin-can and his Digimon to be that vigilant," Rika said, before pulling her hood back up.

***

A few hours later, Tai had decided on a direction, up, and they had started their weary march yet again.

After another hour of their quiet walking, Takato had heard another distant sound.

"What is that?" he asked, stopping, and looking towards a nearby pit that seemed to be the source of the sound.

Henry peered forward.  "I'd know that sound anywhere, it's the sound of a computer, and that's a hammer."

"So, that means we're not alone down here?" Kenta asked nervously.

Henry nodded grimly.  "I'd think we'd better up our pace a little."

A few more miles underground, and then they could all see a dim light coming from above.

"I'd never thought I would be so glad just to see a little sunlight," Davis said, as he extinguished his staff, and pulled open the next door.

They all stopped when they saw what was within.

"It's a tomb," Jeri said quietly, her voice quivering slightly as old memories were stirred by the coffin and the smell of death.

Henry himself had gasped when he saw it.  "Its Jenrya…"

"Who?" Kazu and Kenta asked together.

"My ancestor, Lee Jenrya, the last lord of Moria, before my people were forced to flee.  It was said that a small group of our people had been trapped in here during the evacuation, including Jenrya.  Now I know its true."

Davis was walking along, when he nearly tripped on something.  He looked down and saw that it was a large book.  He picked it up, coughed when he opened it up and dust went flying and blinked at the foreign letters.

"Hey, Henry, can you read this?" he asked, holding the book out to Henry.

Henry took the book gingerly, and turned the pages gently.  "Barely.  This is an old dialect.  Wait, let me try something."

Henry set the book down on the floor, and took out his D-Arc and held it up over the book.  The Digivice emitted a soft glow and then letters appeared in the air above the screen in Standard.

"These things can translate stuff too?" Kenta asked, amazed.

Henry nodded distractedly.  "Only if its read that language before.  I had scanned in this dialect from some of our older texts at the Lonely Mountain a few years before, but I never expected to find more of it."

Henry picked the book up and then moved it to the top of the coffin so he could scan it better when he noticed Jeri was still standing, frozen, at the entrance.

"Jeri, are you okay?"

The brunette jumped, but then pasted a false smile on her face.  Leomon looked at her carefully.  He had hoped that Jeri wouldn't have another trauma episode again so soon.

"I'm fine," Jeri said shakily.  "Its just that I don't like being around… dead people."

Henry nodded in understanding.  "Just let me get this into my D-Arc's memory, and then we can leave."

Suddenly, in the distance, a deep sound boomed.  A drum.  Seconds later, they could hear the sound of running feet getting closer and closer…

"Bar the door!" Tai ordered, as he drew the Grey Sword and beside him, Matt drew the Garuru Gun.

Kazu and Kenta, the nearest, threw themselves at the door, and Leomon dropped the door latch- and just in time as the doors shook with the impact of something.

Davis stepped forward, staff raised.  "Get behind me!  Check the other door, and get ready to run for your lives.  I'll hold them off."

Matt pulled open the other door leading out, and shouted "Clear!"

The barred doors shook again and again as whatever on the other side kept getting madder.

Davis raised his staff, and a black glow appeared around the doors, and they stopped shaking.

Everybody else ran out, except for Takato and Tai.

"Come on Davis!" Takato shouted, seeing the strain Davis was under.

The black glow flickered once, then again, as the doors started shaking again.

A black glow surrounded Davis himself, and sweat poured down his brow, until several large cracks appeared in the door.

Finally, Davis roared "Positron Laser!" and a blast of blue light shot from his staff and slammed through the weakened doors, and sent whatever was on the other side of the door flying.

Takato and Guilmon cheered, as they and Tai and Agumon ran to help Davis up.

"Go," he whispered as they grabbed his arms.  "Its still alive."

Takato's eyes widened.  "But how could it survive an attack like that?"

"I'm not sure, but I don't think we have a chance against it in here, in this unholy darkness."

There was no more time as several more Digimon, Devidramons, flew up through the broken remains of the door and charged at the three goggleheads.

"You take him," Tai said, handing Davis over to Takato.  "I'll handle these guys."

Tai leapt up into the air, and swung the Grey Sword, and was very surprised when it easily decapitated the lead Devidramon.

Tai landed behind the beheaded Devidramon, as the head separated from the body before both broke in dust.

Tai looked down at the gleaming edge of his weapon, and grinned ferally.  He stood up and held his sword before him.  "Who's next?"

Takato and Davis stumbled along, until Davis recovered enough to stand on his own and they ran till they met the rest of the group.

"Where's Tai?" Matt asked, looking around warily.

"He said he'll catch up," Takato answered.

The words were barely out of his mouth, when Tai ran into the room, still holding his weapon.

"Run, there are a whole lot of Digimon right behind that aren't happy to see me," he panted, before a giant drill broke through the walls to their right.

A dozen Minotaurumon stampeded out, swinging their drill arms left and right.

Rika dodged the swing of one of the Minotaurumon easily, and pulled out a Blue Card.  "Walk all over them, Renamon!  Digi-modify!  Matrix Digivolution activate!"

"Renamon digivolve… Taomon!"

"You too, Terriermon!" Henry added, as he slashed another Blue Card.  "Digi-modify!  Matrix Digivolution Activate!"

"Terriermon digivolve to… Rapidmon!"

"Let's help them, Leomon!" Jeri shouted, as she concentrated on one of her cards, just like Takato had taught her, and then- "Digi-modify!  Matrix Digivolution Activate!"

"Leomon digivolve to… Grapleomon!"

Matt raised his gun to shoot a charging Minotaurumon before Tai shouted "Don't!  You'll kill us all."

Matt started to ask how his weapon could be so power, before he was forced to block the downward swing of the Minotaurumon's drill with the barrel of the Garuru Gun.  "Gabumon!"

"Gabumon digivolve to… Garurumon!  Garurumon digivolve to… Weregarurumon!"

Tai impaled an Minotaurumon on his sword, and cursed as he looked at the low ceilings.  "Damn!  Its too big for Greymon in here and I don't want Wargreymon to waste his energy on small fry like these."

"You call these small fries?!" Kazu shouted, and ducked when Guardromon went flying back, also creating another Blue Card at the same time.  "Come on, we can do it, Guardromon!  Digi-Modify!  Matrix Digivolution Activate!"

"Guardromon digivolve to… Andromon!"

"Let's give them a shocking experience, Veemon!" Davis said, as he shot at a Minotaurumon with his staff.  "Digi-Armor Energize!"

"Veemon armor digivolve to… Raidramon!  The Storm of Friendship!" Raidramon leapt forward, and used Electric Bite on a Minotaurumon's arm, and then let go and hit its drill with a Thunder Blast.

Takato gulped as he slashed a Hyperwing card.  "Times like these make me wish I hadn't make Guilmon's other forms so large."

Guilmon dodged the drill of a Minotaurumon, jabbed it in the chest with his head, and then circled around behind it and hit it with a PyroSphere.

Unfortunately, this caused it to see a seemingly defenseless Takato and it charged at him.

Rika, the only one who wasn't currently dodging a Minotaurumon, saw Takato's peril first.  "Taomon!  Takato's in trouble!"

"A little busy here," Taomon said, as she pushed her brush against a Minotaurumon's drill.

Rika hesitated for a moment, before drawing her own sword and leaping at the Minotaurumon's side.

It cried out in pain as Rika's sword point dug in deep, and Rika pulled it out for another swing, when it swung its own fist and sent Rika flying.

"Rika!" Takato ran towards the fallen Elf, and held his own sword up shakily, only to have it pulled out of his grasp by the Minotaurumon's much stronger hand.

It roared triumphantly, ignoring the pain on its back from Guilmon's attacks, and ran forward.  "Earthquake Drill!"

Takato stepped backwards, towards Rika, and quickly reached into his pocket and pulled out Gram.  "Shield us!" he commanded, and he threw it up into the air, and the red and white shield quickly grew to its original size.  Takato fell back onto Rika to keep from banging his head on it, and then the shield easily covered both Takato and Rika underneath it.

The Minotaurumon continued running forward, and slammed its drill into the special ChronDigizoid shield, only to cry out in pain as the drill tip quickly dulled and then the entire drill shattered against the strong metal.

The Minotaurumon was put out of its misery moments later as Tai sliced it in half, the last of them to fall, leaving Tai to gape at the bright red shield in front of him.

"Is that the Aegis?" Matt asked, stunned at seeing the legendary weapon.

Davis walked up to it, and tapped on the side of it.  "Uh, hello?"

There was the sound of banging from inside, and some shouting and cries from within, before the shield shrunk to a smaller size that Takato could easily hold.

Takato and Rika slowly stood up, with Rika blushing for _some reason, and Takato also blushing and sporting a few bruises on the side of his face._

"Don't you ever do that again, gogglehead," Rika hissed, as she turned around to hide her blush from an already snickering Kazu and Kenta.

"Guess there wasn't a lot of room under there, rriiiggght, Takato?" Kazu hinted, poking Takato in the side.

Takato kept blushing, until he felt someone grab him again.  The same person as last time.

"I thought you said you had put that back?!" Rika growled as she realized what Takato was holding.

"Uh, Takato, how did you get that thing?" Davis asked, joining the interrogation.  "And where did you hide something that size on you?"

Takato sweated at the Digimon Queen's glare, and answered slowly "Well, I never said that I hadn't taken it, and they sorta wanted me too-"

"Wait, _they_ wanted you too?" Matt asked with a raised eyebrow.  "You make them sound alive."

"They are, in a way," Tai said, looking at Takato closely.  "Rika drop him.  We'll talk about this later."

Rika reluctantly let Takato down again, and whispered in his ear "WE are definitely going to have a talk later, causing Takato to gulp.

"Come on, move it or lose it!" Davis shouted, as he mounted Raidramon.

The others also were picked up their respective Digimon, Kenta riding with Kazu on Andromon, and Tai riding on Greymon, once he had room to digivolve.

Their frantic escape continued, with more encounters with random Digimon, until they reached a huge open space, with a stairway leading down.  They followed it, when Digimon on the walls started shooting sniper attacks.

"Now, can I use it?" Matt asked Tai mockingly.

Tai nodded, and said "Watch out for the recoil," when Matt fired the gun at the walls and was nearly thrown off the stairs.

The energy ball wasn't that large, but when it hit the wall, that section of it disappeared along with several dozen Digimon.

Matt gaped at the damage, and then held up his gun.  "I think I like this thing."  A few more attacks from another part of the wall hit near them, and, after bracing himself, Matt fired a few more times.

They continued running, and had finally reached level ground and found a bridge.

"The Bridge of Khazad-Dum," Henry said in awe, still hanging half onto Grapleomon and half onto Jeri, so that Rapidmon could maneuver better.

"This should lead to the outside," Tai said, pointing at source of white light on the other side.

The had started running forward, and most of them had crossed the bridge, when Raidramon and Davis stopped at the midpoint.

"What is it?" Tai asked, as Greymon stopped besides Raidramon.

Davis dismounted, and Raidramon devolved to Veemon.  "That thing from before is back.  I'll hold it back, you guys go ahead."

"But Davis, you're still tired from the last time," Takato protested.

"I'll manage," Davis said, and then there was no more time as something arose from the dark pit.

Henry and Rapidmon had stopped, and turned around to face the dark creature and raised his Digivice.  "Mephismon.  Ultimate level."

Mephismon just grinned cruelly.  "A Technomage.  Haven't seen any of your kind here for a few centuries."

Henry kept his guard up, but when Mephismon saw that Henry still didn't recognize him said "Maybe this will help."

Mephismon's form turned into dark energy for a moment, and then it exploded until it was almost six stories tall.

Henry paled and nearly fainted, but still had enough energy to raise his Digivice.  "Galfmon, Mega level Digimon.  His Dead Scream can wake the dead, and the Black Requiem is his version of the apocalypse."

"A Mega…" Grapleomon said in awe, before he had to reach out to grab Henry when he let go of Rapidmon.

Grapleomon put him on his left shoulder, across from Jeri on his right shoulder.

"Henry, what is it?" Jeri asked, concerned.

"Th-th-th-th," Henry stuttered, before he felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up into Jeri's eyes.

"Come on," she prodded gently.  "You helped me in the tomb back there, can you at least tell me what scares you so much about that Digimon?"

Henry took a deep breath and then spoke.  "Long ago, my ancestors were experimenting with an interdimensional portal.  They managed to get it to work- and accidentally pulled something into this dimension.  He came through.  He wiped out hundreds of Technomages, and forced us to abandon Moria, which is why he is called Jenrya's Doom."

The rest of them backed away from the Bridge of Khazad-Dum, with Tai and Matt debating whether to attack, or let Davis fight by himself like he wanted.

Galfmon roared as it stepped forward with its four feet.  Davis held his staff up grimly, and his Digivice shone with light.

"Veemon, you ready?" Davis asked grimly.

"Ready whenever you are, Davis!" the Rookie said confidently, and then he flashed with light.  "Veemon warp-digivolve to Imperialdramon!"

The Dramon flapped its wings, roaring in answer to Galfmon's own roar.  Davis stood in front of Imperialdramon, his own staff glowing.

"I am Daisuke Motomiya, the Black!" Davis shouted defiantly before the beast of destruction.  "I am the Second Chosen of Courage and Friendship!  And the future Chosen of Miracles!  You will not pass this bridge!"

Galfmon didn't seem to hear, as it took a step forward.

"Fire!" Davis commanded, and Imperialdramon lowered his head and shouted "Positron Laser!"

Galfmon gave a growl that sounded something like "Dead Scream," but whatever it was, it shot a huge blast of black light from its own mouth.  Imperialdramon's blue laser crashed against Galfmon's attack, and barely held it back, and managed to push into the side, where it crashed into the walls of the cavern and made a _huge_ dent.

Galfmon reared back, and a giant mouth opened at its waste, and shot out a huge wave of dark power.  Davis levitated up, while everybody else on the other side leapt back and tried to dodge the shockwave.

The mouth at the waist shot another attack sphere, but this time Imperialdramon retaliated with "Mega Crusher!" and fired it own sphere from its mouth.

The black and blue attacks collided and struggled to overcome each other, before both exploded in a cataclysmic explosion.

"One more step, and I promise, you'll be sorry!" Davis threatened, as he gripped his staff tightly.

Galfmon almost seemed to smirk, and then simply took another step forward.

"You asked for it!" Davis said, then raised his staff with a great cry and slammed it into the bridge.  It broke asunder.

The bridge itself was now riddled with cracks, and pieces of it were slowly falling away.

Davis leapt backwards, and floated towards Imperialdramon's head.  "Blast that bridge before he gets across completely!"

Imperialdramon was more than happy to oblige.  "Positron Laser!"

The blast hit the bridge, and the whole thing broke apart, falling into the pit, along with Galfmon.

The two watched the dark Digimon fall into the depths, and both sighed in relief, when they saw something slowly rising out of the darkness.

Davis' mouth fell open.  "You're kidding?!  That thing can fly?!"

Indeed it could, as slowly, Galfmon was rising back towards their level, and would be there in a few seconds more.

Davis' face settled into a resigned expression.   "Guys, go on ahead!  When you get out, blast the entrance!  I'll catch up later!"

Tai gasped.  "Are you kidding?  There's no way you can take that thing alone!"

"I'll manage!" Davis shouted back.  "If you guys don't go now, then all those other Digimon that are hiding because of this guy will eventually get the nerve to come out!  Go, now!  None of your Digimon have the bulk to match this guy at the Mega level!"

Davis turned away from his friends, and smiled grimly.  "It's been nice knowing you, buddy."

"Hey, Davis, let's not talk like that yet," Imperialdramon answered.

Davis nodded, and then adopted a confident look.  "You're right.  We can beat this guy.  Imperialdramon, charge!"

"You've got it!" Imperialdramon gave a challenging roar, and then plowed itself into Galfmon, pushing it back down.

Tai, Matt, and Takato ran to the edge.  Matt raised his gun, and cursed when he couldn't get a clear shot at Galfmon since Imperialdramon was still wrestling with it.

"Go!" Davis' voice echoed up from the top of Imperialdramon's head.  "We still have a few more tricks up our sleeves!  Imperialdramon, mode change!"

"Imperialdramon mode change to… Fighter Mode!"

Imperialdramon, now a bipedal dragon, raised his arm cannon, and stuck into Galfmon's face.  "Positron Laser!"

Galfmon roared in fury, and tried to push Imperialdramon away, but the Mega Dragon kept pushing Galfmon deeper into the abyss.  Davis leapt from Imperialdramon's head, and pulled out the Elven sword he had acquired from his previous adventure with Takehiro, and stabbed it into Galfmon's arm, causing it to weaken more.

"Go!" Davis' voice came once more from the darkness, and there was another flash as Galfmon and Imperialdramon battled, then the three were gone from sight.

"Davis…" Takato whispered, before being shocked back to reality as an attack whizzed by his head.

With the unholy Galfmon gone, the other enemy Digimon had come out from hiding, and were hurling attacks at the party from across the bridge.

Takato raised the Aegis again, which easily withstood the attacks, before one particularly bold Digimon, a Boltmon, actually _jumped_ across the canyon and swung his axe at them.

Tai swung the Grey Sword at it, but it blocked him and knocked Tai off his feet, and Matt hesitated to use his own weapon at such close quarters.  Weregarurumon tried to attack it, but a quick axe swipe sent the wolf Digimon back to Rookie.  Agumon and Guilmon ran forward, but were quickly knocked flat on their backs.

Boltmon turned towards Takato and raised its weapon.  "Tomahawk Crunch!"

Takato deflected the first blow with the Aegis, but it kept coming, and his left arm was weakening, and Takato's mind was still in shock from Davis' sacrifice, so he wouldn't last much longer.

Deciding quickly, he reached into his pocket, and pulled out his other special item, the Gram.

Takato felt another strike hit Aegis, and quickly enlarging the Gram, he cried out and ran forward and impaled Boltmon on the lance.

Takato had a glimpse of Boltmon's surprised gaze before his body broke apart, and Takato staggered.

Tai looked at the abyss one last time, before picking up Takato.  "Go, go!"

"You're just leaving him?!" Matt shouted incredulously, pointing at the pit.

"We can't go after him, we're all to exhausted from that last fight already," Tai said, already running.  "Don't make Davis' sacrifice for nothing!  We've gotta get out of here now!"

Matt gave him one more look, before picking up the unconscious Gabumon and running after Tai.

They reached the exit, and ran out into the bright sunlight.

"Where's Davis?" Henry asked.

"He's gone," Tai said, eliciting gasps from everybody.  "There's nothing more we can do for him.  Just blast that exit!"

"But-" Jeri protested before Rika ordered "Taomon!  Attack!"

Taomon raised her arms and called out "Thousand Spells!"

Scrolls flew from her sleeves, and though they didn't look very dangerous, when they hit the rock face, they exploded, causing a small rockslide, burying the entrance.

"We've got to find cover!" Tai commanded, as he pulled the shellshocked Takato along.

"Don't you have a heart?!" Matt shouted incredulously at Tai.  "Look at them, they need to rest!  Or is battle all you care about?"

"We have no choice," Tai ground out, not looking happy.  "By nightfall, they'll have dug their way out, and in our condition, we don't have a chance."

As if to emphasize their point, half of their Digimon devolved to their lower forms.

Matt nodded grudgingly, and then picked up Gabumon again.  "Which way?  You've been here before, right?"

"That way," Tai pointed towards the wood.  "We'll be able to find sanctuary there."

The group moved forward, except for Takato.

Tai put his hand on Takato's shoulder.  "He wouldn't want you to grieve Takato.  And besides, he said he would catch up later, and you never know.  He might survive this."

"How?" Takato asked in a lost voice.

"Davis hadn't reached his full potential yet," Tai said.  "If he finally allowed himself to go all out, then he might have a chance against Galfmon."

Takato perked a little at that, but then asked "You said 'might'?"

Tai winced.  "Anything's possible."

Takato nodded, and turned towards the woods, following Tai's lead.

But he looked one more time over his shoulder.  "Good-bye Davis.  May we meet again."

And so Takato Matsuda continued his quest with his Fellowship, one member less.

End part 3…

AF: I love sacrifice scenes, don't you?

Trimon: Of course, he'll be back eventually, for anybody who's read the books and watched the second movie will know.

AF: Yeah, but I hoped I described the battle scenes okay.  I've got the video of it going on in my brain right now, but its always hard to put in words.

Anyways, I should've been studying for exams instead of typing this chapter, but I've been meaning to get to that particular stand at the Bridge of Khazad-Dum scene for months, so at least that won't be distracting me from my exams.

If any of you are huge Tolkien fanatics, I apologize for any mistakes, I'm just trying to write an entertaining story, so I might get a few of the details wrong.  Hope I kept everything straight.  One of these days I've got to revise this whole fic.  

Oh well, another part of Book II, then onto Book III, and hopefully I'll get the next chapter out in a month, or sooner, since my summer vacation starts in two weeks!  Hurray!  Until then, ja ne!


	4. Book II:Seperation

Disclaimer: Hey, I actually finished this at long last.  I know I haven't had a chapter since before summer started, and summer is already long over, but at least this is super long.  

Trimon: Whatever happened to your new and improved name?  And a picture of my final form?

Later, my brain is half fried after all that school work.  And I don't want to sound arrogant, but this chapter is already longer than half of the combined first three chapters, nearly 20,000 words, so I hope that makes up somewhat for the long absence.

Well, onto the end of the first part of the trilogy, and more author notes at the end.

***

The Fellowship was in a sad state as they moved through the trees quietly, always glancing behind them.  Most of the Digimon were being carried by their own partners, as they had used up all their own energies fighting the hordes of Digimon at Moria.

The only two rookies still moving on their own were Renamon and Guilmon, as they were both too large to be carried by their human partners.  Leomon and Guardromon were both carrying two people, Kazu and Kenta on Guardromon's shoulders, and Henry and Jeri in Leomon's arms.

And of course, all of them still remembered the sight of Davis plunging into the abyss while wrestling with a Mega level Virus Digimon.

Tai nodded, satisfied, as he looked at one tree particularly hard.  "I remember this tree.  We should be getting close to Lorien soon."

"I don't see what's so good about another Elf village," Kazu grumbled.  "The last one barely let us stay two weeks before it kicked us out."

"But we volunteered to go with Takato," Jeri reminded him mildly.

"Well, yeah, but I didn't think he would have to leave so soon," Kazu answered.  "And man, this sucks!  First we have to go over mountains, nearly get buried in an avalanche, then we had to turn back, and go through a bunch of dark, damp caves, then Davis jumped off a cliff, and Queenie over there blew up the exit."

"_What_ did you call me?!" Rika demanded, as her head snapped towards the other Tamer.

"Nothing," Kenta stammered, as he stepped between Kazu and Rika before Kazu could say something worse.  "Its just that…"

Kenta trailed off for a moment, before saying "Did you really have to destroy the only chance we had of going back for him?"

Rika growled.  "Its not like I wanted to!  I bought us some time, just like Davis did.  Going back there would've only have gotten us killed, and made his sacrifice for nothing."

Henry sighed loudly, and then added his own opinion.  "Rika's right, Davis was already gone.  Our first priority right now is finding shelter, and hopefully we'll find sanctuary here."

"I don't see what's so great about all these trees," Matt grumbled, as he looked around the forest.  

They had managed to make good time, so there was still some sunlight left, but the sun was setting now, and they had been hearing explosions several miles behind them for most of their trek.

"This forest is home to the kingdom of Lothlorien, one of the more ancient Elf kingdoms remaining," Tai explained.  "As Rika here is the official ruler, she should be able to convince them to let us in."

"Wait, you mean we're about to go into _her kingdom?" Kazu shouted, pointing at the redhead tamer._

"Either that, or would you rather wait for that herd of angry Digimon to catch up to us?" Tai snapped back.

"Um, Rika, we can go in there, right?" Takato asked uncertainly.  He was still partially in shock from their last fight, and he had started hearing voices, whispers, ever since they had entered the enchanted woods.

Rika looked at him strangely.  "What makes you think they wouldn't let us in?  Though I don't spend most of my time there, I still have a lot of clout.  Besides," and she looked at her ragged clothes, which had tears in it from the previous battle, "though I _really_ hate to sound like my mother, we need new clothes."

"Sorry, just voices in my head," Takato said, giving a weak smile as he tried to ignore the repeating "You bring great danger with you" in his head.

"Momentai!" Terriermon said confidently from Henry's shoulder.  "Even if they don't like us, we can handle a few measly Elfs.  And there's no way they could sneak up on us, cause I've got the ears of a rabbit, and the nose of the dog, so-"

"Eh, Terriermon, could you please be quiet?" Henry asked tensely as he stared straight ahead.

"What's the matter?" Terriermon asked as he turned around from looking at Takato and instead found an arrow at his throat.  "Uh oh."

The entire Fellowship suddenly found themselves surrounded by a large group of Elves, all holding bows and arrows, and partner Digimon ready to attack.

Rika slapped her head.  "Will you put those things down, these guys are with me," she ordered as she pushed down one of the bows pointing at them.

"Well, well, well, if isn't the intrepid little Tamers from Shinjuku," said a voice as the speaker stepped out from behind a tree.

Several reactions are worth noting at this point.  One, Kazu and Kenta jumped for joy.  And two, steam flew out of Rika's ears.

"You!"

Takato and Jeri also recognized the new arrival.  "Ryo!"

The Legendary Tamer smiled.  "Never thought that you guys would get this far.  And how's it going, pumpkin?"

Rika looked like she was ready to strangle Ryo, and was about to leap forward, before Takato managed to get her in a full Nelson (don't ask me how he knew how to do one of those), while Kazu and Kenta grabbed her arms, holding her back (barely).

 "Hey Ryo, haven't seen you for awhile," Tai greeted, as he tried to ignore the growling Rika behind him.  "Mind letting us in?'

Ryo frowned and shook his head.  "Sorry, no can do.  We don't generally let non-Elves in here.  For you and a few others, we might've make an exception, but you've got both a Techno-Mage _and the Hazard Digivice."_

"You guys still owe me a favor for that time I helped with that rampaging BlackWargreymon, remember?" Tai prodded.  "And Rika is the official queen here, so anything she says goes, right?"

"You've got a point," Ryo agreed.  "But I should warn you- both Rika's grandmother _and_ mother are here right now."

Rika ceased her struggling, slumped, and would've fallen to the ground, except for the fact that Takato, Kazu, and Kenta were still holding her up.

Kazu and Kenta had been surprised by Rika's sudden lack of clawing, so they accidentally let go of her.

"Oh, not her," Rika mumbled, when she noticed the two arms that were still wrapped around her.  Takato hadn't been so quick to distance himself away from the Digimon Queen as he couldn't see her face.  Unfortunately, Rika, of course, got the wrong impression from this.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, GOGGLEHEAD?!"

Takato quickly let go, but not before Rika started strangling _him_, and Kazu and Kenta had again grabbed her arms to save their best friend.

"We won't stay here long, I promise," Tai said.  "We just need a night to rest, we just lost Davis in the Mines of Moria, so we're still recovering."

Ryo's eyes darkened.  "Damn.  What happened to him?"

"He met a Digimon named Galfmon," Tai said shortly.

Ryo gasped, and then winced.  "Okay, that would be a bad thing."  He sighed.  "He'll be missed, so for his sake, we'll let you stay the one night."

Tai smiled.  "Thanks, we appreciate it."

***

"Whoa," was the general reaction of the Fellowship as they ascended the steps, and left the forest floor behind them.

They had arrived when the sun had just begun setting, so the effects of the twilight on Lorien made the ancient village even more radiant in the blue light of the lanterns.

They were led to a central pavilion, where from a higher canopy two women walked down.  Takato recognized one as Rumiko Makino, from the Council, and before anybody could do anything, she had glomped Rika.

"Oh, Rika darling, I'm so glad you're safe, when I saw you leave with the Fellowship, I was so worried," she said all in one rush, making Rika a very embarrassed young Elf.

The other women just smiled indulgingly at the reunion, and then turned to the rest of the assembled.

"Hello, my name is Seiko Hata," she said politely.  She looked each one of them in the eyes, and they all had the uncomfortable feeling that she was looking into their very souls.

Tai and Henry easily withstood her gaze, while Kazu, Kenta, and Jeri were all awed by the wisdom in the ancient eyes.  Matt, for some reason, felt a little guilty when he saw those eyes focused on him, and Takato shuddered when they made eye contact.

After her eyes finished probing them, she again smiled, and addressed Tai.  "Rumiko has told me of your quest, and as a favor to my old friend Gennai, you, and to the late Davis, we'll grant you one night rest here."

Tai and the rest of the company sighed in relief.

***

"Man, this place is even cooler than Rivendell," Kenta murmured as they were led to beds among the tree tops.

Rika smiled sadly.  "I lived here when I was younger.  It was always peaceful like this until he left…"

Most of the others didn't hear her, being too busy marveling at the sights, but Takato saw her face, and was amazed at the soft look on her normally hard face.  For once she actually looked wistful instead of bitter.

That expression on her face haunted Takato even up until he had taken off his battered cloak and had lain down to bed.

***

Takato started when he heard something loud, interrupting his dream of an benign looking yet sinister smile.  He groaned when he realized that it was just Kazu's snoring.

He got up from bed, knowing that he wouldn't get any sleep while that horrible smile still lingered in his mind.  He had much preferred the image of Rika in his mind to that other Digimon.

He momentarily paused in putting his cloak back on to wonder how he had known it was a Digimon?  It had a human face, which looked like an angel, yet something in the eyes hinted at horrible darkness.

Not wanting to spend his thinking time in the company of a drooling Kazu and Kenta, he stepped out of the little tree mounted hut to take a short walk.  He thought about taking Guilmon along, but decided that he was safe in the Elf city.

He walked quietly, a trait all humans in Shinjuku were known for.

He moved among the various pathways in the tree, not seeing anyone, and generally just enjoying the sight of Lorien, until he thought he saw a glimmer of light.

He made his way there, and saw that it was small pool.  He stepped up to looked into it, but hesitated at the last moment for some reason that he didn't know.

"Are you afraid?" asked a kind voice.

Takato started, and turned around to see that it was only the lady who had greeted them, Seiko Hata.  Now that he looked a little closer, he thought that there was a minor resemblance to Rika there.

Takato shook his head, and then paused.  "I don't think I'm afraid, but its just that I don't know if what I see in there will be a good thing."

Seiko smiled sadly.  "Sometimes, it is the sad things in life that drive people to change them.  I don't know what you will see in there even though it is my mirror, the Mirror of Seiko.  It shows many things.  The past, the future, the present."

Takato gulped as her gaze seemed to pierce his soul, and decided that he'd rather look in the mirror.

The mirror flashed, and showed so many things- fire, death, pain, but mixed in there were glimpses of hope, triumph, and happiness.  He thought he saw Shinjuku flash by for a moment, but didn't quite see what state it was in.  

He saw that face again, along with 9 dark looming figures, but saw many in opposition to it.  He saw a fallen angel, with black wings being shot in the back by another.  He saw a walled city firing into a sea of Digimon.  He saw a white knight with a blood red cape.  He saw that beautiful shaman again.  He saw a walking fortress.  He saw a paladin stabbing at a dragon.  He saw a barrage of missiles striking another.  He saw two towers.  He saw huge armies.  He saw a girl with brown hair screaming while engulfed in light.  He saw a giant beast.  He saw two little kids.  He saw-

The slide show abruptly stopped on one scene.  It looked like Lorien at dusk, with the sun burning red in the background.  A little redheaded girl was tugging at the hand of a tall man, but though she seemed to be begging him, he turned away.

Somebody's hand splashed the water, destroying the vision, and he looked up to see Rika's face, full of fury.

"_Ever_ mention that to anyone, and, even if you're the last hope for peace in this world, you are _dead," she hissed, and Takato shivered at the rage in her voice.  But he also saw that crying, sorrowful girl somewhere behind those eyes.  Deeply buried, but still there._

Rika had turned away from Takato, now venting on Seiko.

"How could you, grandma?!" she nearly screamed at Seiko, Takato only just now noting the title, and understanding why there was a resemblance.

Seiko listened to Rika's accusations patiently, until she had to catch her breath, and then the ancient Elf lady answered.

"I have no control over what my mirror shows to other people, Rika," she answered simply.  "I expected that he would see glimpses of the future, but I never expected that he would see your-"

"Stop," Rika said wearily, and sighed.  Her D-Arc flashed for a moment with a triangular symbol, before she managed to gain control over her anger.

She seemed to pull into herself again, before her shields were up again.  "I'm going back to bed," she spoke.  With one last glare of warning at Takato, she left the small clearing.

"What was that about?" Takato asked, very stunned at the outburst from Rika.

Seiko sighed.  "That last scene you saw?  That was the last time Rika ever saw her father.  His and Rumiko's marriage was an arranged one, mainly to give birth to another heir to the throne of Lorien.  Once it was determined that Rika had the power and the potential to be a good ruler, he left.  It was very hard on her, and she has never told anyone about it since."

She looked at Takato closely, but this time he didn't care that she was examining him since he was too busy trying to remember what that sign on Rika's D-Arc had been.

"What I don't understand it why the Mirror showed you that scene," Seiko said.  "Perhaps you and my granddaughter have been spending a lot of time together?"

That broke Takato's concentration, as he blushed at the insinuation.  "I guess you could say that we're friends, I guess," he stammered.  "She's always been semi-willing to explain things to me, since I usually barely any idea what's going on and-"

Seiko raised a hand to stop Takato's excuses for his blush.  "Never mind, that is enough.  Perhaps you should go back to bed," she suggested.  "This will be the last time in a very long time that you will have a soft bed and haven to sleep in."

Takato thought of the continuing suicide mission into Mordor and shudder.  "I guess you're right," he agreed, as he started walking again.

Suddenly he remembered where he had seen that symbol before- after all, he saw it everyday on Guilmon.

He turned towards Seiko to ask one last question.  "Uh, Ms. Seiko?" he asked timidly.

She smiled benevolently.  "Yes, what is it Takato?"

"Why did the Hazard sign flash on Rika's D-Arc?" he asked out of curiosity.

Seiko's eyes flashed for a moment- with fear, or anger, Takato couldn't tell- before they were the same ageless eyes as before.

"Rika's D-Arc is one of the Three held by the Elves," she explained.  "Like all Prime Digivices, it is linked to your Hazard Digivice, the One.  Because they are all linked, all of them have the potential to fall into darkness, and become part of the natural chaos that is the Hazard.  That is why all of the bearers of the remaining Digivices of Light take great care not to loose control of their emotions, lest they fall."

Takato winced.  "That could happen to Rika?"

Seiko nodded sadly.  "When I handed my Digivice down to her, I hoped that she would use it to maintain this paradise, as I did, but she chose a different path, the path of a warrior."

Her expression sharpened again as she looked at Takato.  "It is also why you must never let her hold your Digivice.  I don't know why you yourself are still unaffected by its inherent chaotic nature, but if a person ever held more than one Digivice of Power, well, it would probably drive them mad.  Holding a Digivice of Power _and the One would __definitely drive anyone mad."_

Takato nodded fervently as he thought about Rika's blue D-Arc, and Henry's green one, and also of Jeri's, Kazu's, and Kenta's D-Arcs.  Having so many Prime Digivices in one place didn't seem like such a good idea now.

"One last thing," she said.  "You do not need to hold a Digivice of Power to be tempted by the One," she warned.  Takato knew who she was talking about.

She then smiled reassuringly at Takato and said "Good night, Takato.  Pleasant dreams."

Takato nodded once, and then walked off, leaving Rika's grandmother alone with her thoughts, and not noticing that she had called the Hazard Digivice his, and not Lucemon's.

***

Seiko and Rumiko were there to see them off the next day, while the Elves were loading up their packs with fresh supplies.

Seiko went to each of them, and gave them all an item.

She handed Taichi a hair pin, and whispered in his ear "Sora sends her best and this to help you remember her by."  Tai smiled, and then slipped it into his pack.

To Matt she gave a small harmonica, and the words, "Never forget your friends."  Matt's eyes widened, but he also accepted his gift.

Seiko handed a Red Card with a dinosaur's head on the front of it to Henry.  "Use this when you look into the abyss, and it will shield you," she told him.  Henry examined the Card closely, before carefully placing it in his card pouch.

Rika received a tall fox headed staff.  "Listen to your heart," she told her granddaughter.  Rika looked a bit disappointed at the benign looking staff, before her grandma pulled at the top of the fox head tipped staff, to reveal a blade hidden inside the staff.  Rika smiled and bowed once in gratitude to Seiko for the gift.

Kazu and Kenta both got large packs of powerful cards, making them two very happy Tamers.

Jeri gasped when Seiko gave her a small crystal.  "May it shield you from the chaos, and the darkness," Seiko advised her.

Takato himself wasn't sure if he would receive a gift, but he got far more then he ever expected when something landed right in front of him.

Seiko smiled at the "kid on Christmas morning" expression on Takato's face.

"You carry Dukemon's weapons," she spoke.  "When the Elves witnessed his death at the hands of Lucemon, they managed to retrieve three of his weapons.  You already carry two of them, the Gram and the Aegis, and this is the third item- Grani.

"Grani was a prototype glider, designed by the finest minds of all three races of that Age.  It has waited for a master to serve for many centuries, and I believe that you are that master."

Takato cautiously stepped forward, and raised a hand to touch, and was startled when Grani moved forward suddenly, to- nuzzle him?

Takato smiled and patted it fondly.  "Thank you."

Seiko nodded happily.  "Grani can fly, and should your partner ever evolve into Dukemon, then know this- Grani and Dukemon were famous for the power of their combined attacks."

Takato nodded again, and looked into the eyes of the sentient glider.

She looked at all of them once more.  "We've never given our cloaks to members of other species before, but because your quest is so important, you will probably find them very useful.  The cloaks are very durable, and they will help hide you when you do not wish to be seen."

They walked to the riverbanks together, and saw four small canoes, with Ryo directing the rest of the Elves on what to pack.

Ryo turned to face them, and bowed once to Seiko and Rumiko.  "The supplies are all set, we're ready to depart."

Takato thought he had misheard Ryo, until Rika also reacted to Ryo's statement.  "Wait a minute.  Did you just say 'we'?"

Ryo gave a roguish smile.  "Yep.  I'm coming along with you guys, along with Monodramon."

The cute purple dragon, who was standing behind Ryo, waved.  "Hi!"

Tai and Matt both gulped, and that was _before they saw Rika turn red.  "We don't need his help!" she shouted._

"Yes you do," Seiko said firmly.  "Personal problems aside, he is the strongest Elf Tamer aside from yourself, and he'll fill the vacancy left by Davis."

Takato flinched.  They were already replacing Davis?

Seiko, seeing his face, nodded in answer to his silent question.  "Gennai said nine was a very lucky number, so that it was essential that we maintain a fellowship of nine.  As such, Ryo is going with you, and that is final," she said, looking at Rika in particular.

Ryo just nodded grimly.  "After this, you'll be in Mordor's territory.  Many enemy Digimon roam the shores and the waters, and I know the terrain better than any of you.  I'll act as guide, at least till we get past the V-Tamer gate."

Rika sighed, conceding the point, at least for now.  Later was another matter altogether.

The Fellowship was split up into four groups, since each canoe was only large enough to fit two people, their packs and their partner Digimon.

Takato counted off the possible pairings in his head, and then realized something.

"Uh, isn't there going to be one of us out?" he asked as he looked at the four canoes meant for eight people.

"I thought you and Guilmon could just ride Grani," Ryo said with a surprised expression. "He can easily carry at least four people.  Besides, these four canoes are all we can spare right now."

Kazu picked up one of the packs that was lying in the canoes, opened it, and was shocked at what was inside it.  "I thought these were supposed to be supplies!"

This time, Rumiko spoke.  "Why, they are," she said, puzzled to why Kazu looked so surprised.

"And what are we supposed to do with a bunch of food cards?" Kazu asked, as he reached in and pulled out a card with a large hamburger on it.

"Well, you're just supposed to slide it through your D-Arc, and then you have an endless supply of food," Rumiko answered.

Kazu blinked at that, and then slid the card through his D-Arc, and instantly, a hamburger appeared in Guardromon's hands.

Kazu and Kenta's eyes lit up.  "Cool!"

"There are also several other cards in there, with various dishes," Rumiko added.  "This way, you don't have to carry around any food that'll expire, you can just make your own.

Tai and Matt each got into one of the first two canoes on the right, with Kazu and Kenta sitting behind them.  It had been decided that their two co-leaders would share a canoe with one of the younger Tamers.  Guardromon himself was going to follow the canoe from the air.

Henry climbed into the third canoe, and Jeri followed him, since she was more familiar with him than Ryo.  Leomon jumped in, after he had dedigivolved to Elecmon so he could fit better.

Rika definitely didn't like the way the canoe assignments were looking, since it looked like now the only available space left was in the fourth one- with Ryo.

Rika growled, and then turned to Takato.  "Enough room on that thing for two more, gogglehead?"

Takato, who had been practicing balancing on Grani, nearly fell off when he heard Rika's request.  "You want to ride him with me?"

Rika nodded reluctantly.  "Better you than him," and she pointed towards Ryo.

Takato, still too shocked at her uncharacteristic request, just nodded, before climbing back onto Grani, and then tugged Guilmon up along with him.

Rika nimbly jumped on behind him, and Renamon did her usual teleportation trick, appearing behind Rika.  Luckily, two young adults and Rookie Digimon were no trouble for Grani to carry.

"Good luck," Seiko told them once more before they pushed off.  "The fate of all of Middle-Earth depends on you."

The once more group of nine drifted slowly down the river, looking back once more at the beauty of Lorien, before they turned a corner, and it was gone.

***

They paddled downstream for several hours, with Tai, Matt, and Ryo keeping a wary eye on the riverbanks of both sides.  Ryo's canoe, with him in it alone led the group, while Takato and Rika on Grani flew behind him.

"What the hell is that?!" Rika blurted out at one point when they came within sight of two giant statues that had been carved into the sides of cliffs.

Tai smiled proudly.  "They're more of my ancestors, Taichi and Zero, his Veedramon!"

Half the party sweatdropped at the sight of two giant figures of a Tai look-alike and a pudgy dragon giving the victory sign.

Takato whispered something to Grani, and the glider obediently flew closer so that Tai's head with level with Takato's.

"Uh, Tai, how many hero-ancestors did you have?" Takato asked.

Tai thought for a moment, and then shrugged.  "I have no idea.  History was never my favorite subject."

***

They went ashore in the afternoon, and set up camp in a small clearing.

"After we cross those mountains, we'll be in Mordor proper," Tai said as he looked at a hand drawn map in the dirt.

"Yeah, then all that we'll have to do is walk through miles of wasteland, go through poisonous swamps, dodge all of Lucemon's spies and avoid meeting his army dead on, and then climb up Reaper Mountain and throw in the Hazard Digivice.  Yep, it'll be a piece of cake," Terriermon said.

"Shut up, Terriermon," the entire group said as one.

Tai shook his head.  "There's no other way.  We'll just need a bit of skill and a whole lot of luck to make it that far, and then afterwards…"

"Afterwards we'll have a huge victory feast," Kenta asked hopefully.

"Nope, we pray Lucemon kills quickly rather than slow and painfully," Terriermon answered.

"Shut up, Terriermon," the entire group again said.

Henry just then noticed that several voices had been missing from that last "Shut up, Terriermon."

"Where's Takato?" he asked, as he noticed Grani lying on the ground, apparently dormant.

"You know, now that you mention it, where's Rika?" Ryo added, as he didn't see Rika's fiery hair anywhere within sight.

"Maybe they're having a little quiet time, _together, if you catch my drift," Terriermon said, snickering.  "Hey, Henry, why don't you do that more often?  How about with Jeri?  She's available- ACK!"_

Terriermon's cracks were cut off as Henry clamped his mouth shut, while trying not to blush and not look at Jeri.  Too bad he was only successful at one of those things.

"I'm right here, brainiac," Rika said as she strode back into camp from the south.  "Me and Renamon were just checking something out.  We thought we heard something on this bank, but it was nothing."  She then glanced at the west bank.  "Though I'm not too sure about the things on the other side."

"I've got a better question," Tai interrupted.  "Where's Matt?"

***

Takato wandered through the woods, his mind not even remembering any of the warnings Tai gave him to not be alone.  Though he wasn't completely alone, as Guilmon was still with him.

The topic on his mind?  His Digivice of course.  He held in the palm of his hand, the familiar weight of it giving him some comfort.

He debated the pros and cons of his possible choices.  If he just went along with the current plan, it was most likely that they would all die, either killed by Lucemon and his armies, or they would end up killing each other over the Hazard Digivice.

On the other hand, if he went it alone, then he would be on his own, in a land he had only heard of in legends before, with no help, or guidance, but the others would probably survive.  And he might even have a slim chance of getting to Reaper Mountain and of destroying the Hazard Digivice.

Takato jumped when he heard a twig snap behind him, and he whirled around, already holding the Takato-sized Gram and Aegis when he saw it was just Matt.

"Hey, Takato, you should be more careful not to wander off," Matt said, as he held his arms up to show he meant no harm.  Though Takato couldn't help noticing the Garuru Gun attached to Matt's belt.

"I'm fine, I just felt like I needed some, uh, air, yeah," Takato quickly lied, as he tried to think of a more believable excuse- and failed.

Matt shook his head, and then saw the Red D-Arc cradled in Takato's hand.  "Hey, be careful who you show that too.  I expect every dark Digimon from here to Mordor would give their right arm to get that thing."

Takato quickly put the Digivice back in his pocket, not liking the look in Matt's eyes.  He subtly glanced around, and saw that unfortunately, he had wandered quite far from camp.

"You know, if you're getting tired of carrying it, I can hold it for a little while," Matt offered, holding out one hand.

Takato saw Gabumon hanging back behind of Matt, with a guilty expression on his face.  Takato didn't blame him.

"Uh, its okay, its only a tiny little thing, its not heavy," he said, as he stepped back from Matt.

"I've always wondered about the what such the big thing about being  a Tamer was," Matt commented, as he stepped closer still, and Takato took another step backwards.  Guilmon was growling.

"After all, no Crest, no Tag, and those cards of yours don't make that much of a difference," Matt continued, speaking calmly, yet there was something in his voice that set off alarms in Takato's head.

"And why should a little kid like you have it, when you have paid no price, no blood, no lives for it," Matt said, talking faster now, with a feverish light in his eyes.

"Matt, I know you have the best interests of Odaiba at heart, but couldn't we talk about this?" Takato asked nervously as he backed up, and then tripped over a tree root.

Matt reached out a hand to help him up, but Takato quickly pulled himself back up and continued backing up.

"Tai, Gennai, and especially that idiot Davis never even thought about taking it from you," Matt growled as he continued stepping forward, and Takato kept backpedaling.  Gabumon looked sad, but resolute in following whatever Matt chose to do, while Takato had to keep a hand on Guilmon's neck to keep him from lunging forward.

"They were always too blind, too weak to do the right thing, the necessary thing, in order to win.  Tai's always been the great leader, never once thinking about all the lives lost, the people, the Digimon, all lost because of his ego and misplaced trust in a little boy."

"Matt!" Takato shouted, and that actually seemed to stop Matt's advance- at least for a moment.  "I know you think that my D-Arc could help save Odaiba, but Matt, I know that it would just corrupt Gabumon and every other Digimon that it touched."

"And what about your precious little Guilmon?" Matt countered.  "He's seems absolutely fine."

"Guilmon's special!" Takato yelled back.  "I-I don't know why, but I just know if you or anybody else held it they wouldn't last a week before they would be at Lucemon's beck and call."

"And why are you so invisible?" Matt asked in a dangerous tone, hand resting on the butt of his weapon.

"I don't know!" Takato screamed so loudly, that he was surprised no one came running.  "I just don't know why, about this, or how this thing created Guilmon.  All I can do is listen to my heart and follow this thing through."

Matt snorted.  "Do those goggles kill all of your brains cells?  I sometimes wonder about that.  But since you're so resistant," Matt pulled out the Garuru Gun, and pointed it at Takato.  "Either you give me that Digivice, or we settle this the hard way."

Takato shook his head.  "No, I can't.  Don't you see that even now, before you've even held it, you're already lusting for it?"

"I've paid for my power with blood and sacrifice," Matt said.  "You had it handed to you on a silver platter, and you don't even have the guts to use it!"  Matt held out his left hand while still keeping his Gun up.  "Now give it to me!" he demanded.

"I can't!" Takato protested.

"Then so be it!" Matt said grimly, and he pulled the trigger.

Takato knew that at that close a range, he should only have a moment before that powerful blast obliterated him and hopefully his Digivice.

But time seemed to slow down, so much so that Takato had enough time to turn to Guilmon.  "Are you with me, boy?"

Guilmon blinked, and lost his primal look a little.  "Of course, Takato.  Why wouldn't I be?"

Takato smiled sadly.  "Oh Guilmon, thank you."

He turned back to the ever so slow ball heading towards them.  "I only wish we could've fought together Guilmon, even if only for one time."

In that last second, Takato's D-Arc, the Hazard Digivice, shone with power, power that swallowed up both Guilmon and Takato before either of them could so much as blink.

Takato gasped as he seemed to feel weightless for a moment and vaguely heard Guilmon shout out "Guilmon biomerge to Dukemon!"

When the flash of light vanished, Takato still found himself holding up the Aegis, but now it seemed larger.  Come to think of it, when was he 6 foot tall?

The blast from Matt's gun hit the Aegis, but to everybody's shock, Takato managed to hold the blast back.  The blast stayed in ball shape for a second, before it exploded, sending Matt and Gabumon flying back.

***

"Damn you, Takato!" he screamed, flying through the air far, far away from Takato, until he hit a tree and fell to the ground semi-conscious.

Matt groaned as he tried to sit up, and heard something thump next to him, and turned his head to see Gabumon land next to him.

"Uh, what's going on?" he asked in a dazed voice, before he realized that he was holding his weapon, and that smoke was still rising from the barrel, before the memories of the past few minutes rushed back to him.

"What have I done?" he gasped.  "What have I done?"  He rushed over to Gabumon, and turned him over.  "Gabumon, are you okay?"

Gabumon stirred, and then smiled.  "Matt, you're back to normal," he said happily.

Matt nodded sadly.  "But, what about Takato?  Is he still alive?"

"I think so," Gabumon said.  "I'm not quite sure how, but I think he and his partner Biomerged to form Dukemon, and that's how he managed to push back your attack."

Matt smiled.  "Then I guess he really is the one destined to end this long endless tale."

He stood back up, and then helped his partner up, and looked back in the direction he had come flying from.

"I don't think I can ever make up for this," he said sadly.

"Of course you can, Matt," Gabumon said, standing by his side faithfully.  "They're your friends, they'll understand."

"Maybe Tai, but what about Takato?" Matt asked.

"All we can do is try," Gabumon said.

Matt hesitated for a moment, before he noticed a glow from under his shirt, and reached under it to see his own shining Crest.

"I guess you're right," he said, as he held up his Digivice.  "Let's go, Gabumon!"

"Gabumon digivolve to… Garurumon!"

Matt climbed onto Garurumon's back, and the two galloped off, searching for redemption.

***

Takato blinked when he saw the small crater surrounding him, and then remembered that he was suddenly a lot taller.

He looked down and saw an armored body, mostly white with red, and holding the Gram in one hand, and the Aegis in the other.  Strangely enough, now he looked like the type of person who should hold the weapons.

Suddenly he realized that he couldn't see Guilmon.  "Guilmon, where are you?!"

"Right here, Takato," Takato heard in his own head.

"Guil… mon?" he asked silently, speaking the words in his mind.

"Yeah?" Takato heard Guilmon answer.

"Did we somehow become one?" Takato asked, as he took a few experimental jabs with his lance

"I think so," Guilmon said.  "Takato, what do we do now?"

Takato hesitated.  "Matt just tried to kill us for my Digivice.  Hey, where is my Digivice, anyways?"

He looked around, and then shrugged when he realized that it had probably disappeared with the rest of his normal clothes.  Takato hoped that if and when he and Guilmon split, that his clothes would come back.

Anyways, back to the current situation.  _Matt just tried to kill me_, Takato thought, _so who knows who might try next?  Tai?  Ryo?  Kazu?  Rika?_

Takato shuddered at the thought of anyone of them trying to kill him, but then again, he had never really thought that Matt would either.

"Takato, is that you?!" yelled a voice, and Takato started, and raised his shield, as he looked in the direction the voice had come from.

He saw Tai and running towards him, sword out, but both stopped when they saw Takato's new form.  Tai gasped, and quickly sheathed his sword.

"Dukemon…" Tai whispered.

Takato blinked and looked around.  "Where?!"

Tai couldn't help but smiling at Takato's ignorance, but then pointed at Takato.  "You actually managed to biomerge into Dukemon!  I can't believe it!"

Takato knew he had heard the word 'biomerge' before, and tried to remember, and then realized that Guilmon had said it while they were merging together.

"Uh, Tai, what exactly is biomerging anyways?" he asked.

"I'm surprised that none of the other Tamers told you about it," Tai said as he stepped closer, but stopped when he saw Takato take a step back.  "Well, its something only Tamers can do, as only their D-Arcs have enough power to do it."

"So, uh, how do I get out of this form?" Dukemon asked, still keeping a constant distance between him and Tai, a fact that Tai noticed.

(Author's Note: If anyone wondering, since Takato now knows why he's a Digimon now, I'll refer to him as Dukemon for the rest of the time he's in that form.  Also, I'm basically following the same idea Epsilon uses for the biomerged Digimon, that the Tamers are in control, with the Digimon in the back seat.)

"Takato, what happened with Matt?" he asked urgently, and making sure to keep his hands away form his weapon.

Dukemon hesitated for a moment, before answering.  "He tried to take my Digivice," he finally said.  He looked up at Tai again, and raised his lance in challenge.  "You're not going to try that, right?"

Tai sighed.  "I had hoped that Matt wouldn't succumb, but I guess it was too much.  As for me?"  Tai shook his head bitterly.  "It already screwed up my life once, I don't even want to touch it again, much less take it."

"What about the others?" Dukemon asked nervously.

"They're all out searching for you," Tai said, seeing the look in Dukemon' eyes.  "So, you're

leaving us?"

Dukemon nodded.  "I can't risk anybody else taking it.  And who knows what they'll do to take 

it."

Tai smiled sadly.  "You're a good kid, Takato."  Tai pulled his weapon out again, making 

Dukemon tense for a moment, before Tai raised it in a formal salute.

"May our paths someday cross again, hopefully in this life," Tai said.

Dukemon raised the Gram, mirroring Tai's stance, before his head snapped to the right.  "What 

the-?"

A loud roar came before a large fireball flew towards them.  Dukemon easily batted the fireball aside with his lance, then saw the source, a charging Tyrannomon, along with an army of various other Digimon.

Tai gasped, and shouted "Aim for that ring around his neck!" before he himself jumped forward, with a digivolved MetalGreymon behind him, and sliced with his sword, and the Dark Ring shattered, changing the Tyrannomon's glowing red eyes back to their normal color.  It blinked it confusion for a moment, before it quickly ran off.

"What are these things?!" Dukemon shouted as he broke another ring that was around a Drimogemon's leg.  At the moment, all the Digimon attacking them were only Champion level, with the occasional Ultimate, so Dukemon was easily warding off their attacks.

"Those things are Dark Rings!  And watch out for the Dark Spirals too, they're on the Ultimates!" Tai answered as he warded off a Musyamon's attack.  "That's how Kari is controlling the Digimon!"

"Kari?" Dukemon blinked even as he destroyed another ring and sent a Monochromon running.  "How do you know she's controlling them?"

"The machine for making them were at Isengard!" Tai shouted back.  "If they don't have a Dark Ring or Spiral, that means that they're doing this of their own free will, and those you can kill."

"MetalGreymon, keep them away!" Tai commanded, and MetalGreymon stepped in front of him, effectively blocking most of the Digimon from attacking Tai and Dukemon for at least a moment considering his great size.

"Go," Tai urged Dukemon.  "We'll hold them back.  That's the least we can do as your guardians.  Take Grani, he'll be faster than the boats, and he'll probably be a great asset to you as you try to get into Mordor.  We'll take care of things here."

Dukemon hesitated for just a moment, before Tai shouted "Go!" once more, and then Dukemon nodded once before running back in the direction of the canoes, never once looking back.

MetalGreymon started being pushed back as more Ultimates arrived, though he was still doing his best to keep the brainwashed Digimon away from his partner.

Tai leaped up onto MetalGreymon's head and looked at the huge crowd of Digimon.  "Hey, MetalGreymon, how about firing a flare to get some help here?"

"Gladly," MetalGreymon grunted as he quickly leaned upwards and opened his chestplate and fired two missiles into the sky, which exploded in a flash of light that could be seen for miles around.

Tai looked at the fading light in the sky once before turning back to the horde of attacking Digimon.  "Come on, MetalGreymon, we should be able to handle these guys!"

"Definitely," MetalGreymon agreed, before charging straight into the hordes of enemy Digimon, both human and Digimon slashing every which way.

***

Rika looked up at the signal from Tai.  "Looks like he found Takato first.  Renamon, let's go!"

She hadn't taken a step forward before Renamon appeared in front of her, blocking her.

"What's going on?  Renamon?" Rika asked.

"Tai's under attack by Dark Ring Digimon, and it looks like more are on their way," Renamon reported.  "Also, several are heading towards us right now."

"What about Gogglehead?" Rika said, trying not to sound too concerned.  "Did you check the place where Matt attacked him?"

Renamon nodded.  "I managed to follow his tracks to where Tai's fighting now, but then I lost it because too many other Digimon have been trampling around there."

"Dammit, then where did Gogglehead go there?" she wondered.

She didn't get any more time to ponder that question as two things came out of the forest.  One looked like a fairy in purple, while the other resembled a water sprite.

"So, you're after the other gogglehead too?" the fairy commented as she stopped to hover in the air before them.  "Wonder if he's as dumb as Takuya.  And who are you, his girlfriend?"

"WHAT?!" Rika roared (yes, roar), and actually scared the fairy into backing off a bit.

The water sprite snorted.  "Figures that a little girl like you, Fairymon, would be scared of another little girl."

"Hey!" both Rika and Fairymon protested.

"Take that back, Ranamon," Fairymon said, fuming.  "I'll show you who's a little girl!"

"You think a little shrimp like you could beat _me?" Ranamon asked, and then burst out laughing.  "Don't be ridiculous!"_

"Why I outta-" Fairymon grumbled, before she remembered something.  "And don't think you're getting out of this, you little Elf- Hey, where'd she go?"

Both female Hybrids then realized that while they had been arguing, Rika and Renamon had snuck off.

They were silent for a moment, before Fairy spoke again.

"This is all _your fault!"_

"I think not!"

***

"If the rest of them are that dumb, then we don't have anything to worry about," Rika said, smirking at their clean getaway.  Normally, she would've stayed there and taken both of them on, but then Renamon reminded her that Takato was their priority right now.

She stopped for a moment to lean on a tree as she tried to think of what Takato would do.

"Let's see, the Gogglehead is probably running scared now, since Matt just tried to kill him.  I assume he's not dead or else this whole thing falls apart.  Now, he knows that any one of us could fall to the temptation of trying to take his Digivice, so he would try to distance himself from the rest of us, so-"

She gasped.  "So he would head back to the river!  Renamon!  We've got to get there fast!  Biomerge activate!"

 "Renamon biomerge to… Sakuyamon!"

With a flash of blue light, both figures vanished to be replaced by a tall woman, with long white ponytails, a curvy figure, wearing bright yellow armor and holding Rika's fox staff.

"I'm going to kill that Gogglehead when I catch up with him," Sakuyamon grumbled as she took off flying at top speed.  "Though it figures that he would do something self-sacrificing like this."

"Is that a note of admiration I hear in your voice, Rika?" Renamon asked from the back of Rika's mind, before Rika snapped "Shut up!" though that wasn't enough to stop Renamon's amused chuckle.

***

"Is there no end to these guys?" Henry asked as he shattered another Dark Spiral with his axe, releasing another Digimon that frantically ran away from the battle.

"What is their goal?" Grapleomon asked, as he wrestled with a BlueMeramon.  He searched for the characteristic red glowing eyes, but not seeing any, leapt back from the fire Digimon, and then spun around with a "Lion Whirlwind Kick!" that instantly deleted BlueMeramon.

"We know they're from Isengard, since Hikari's the only one with the technology at the moment to make Dark Rings," Henry said, as he blocked another attack.

"Which means that she's after Takato!" Jeri exclaimed, as she ducked under an attack from a Digimon.  Not being a trained figher, she had just been doing her best to stay out of everybody else's way.  She had known Takato for years, and knew that Takato would've found some way to survive Matt's attack, but what was he going to do now?  Jeri tried to figure out what Takato was going to do even as she kept an eye on Grappleomon's situation in case he need a card.

"Now, if we can just find the gogglehead, if he hasn't been nuked by Wolf boy, then everything will be all hunky-dory," Rapidmon said as he released another barrage of missiles into the crowd.

"Well, so you're the Fellowship, not much to look at, are they?" commented a voice from behind them.

Henry and the others whirled around to see what looked like a humanoid bug hovering in the air, while what looked like a snow bear with a bazooka stood below him.

"Nothing personal, but we've got orders to take you guys out," the bear said, as he held up his weapon.  "In case any of you wanna know, I'm Chakmon."

"And I'm Blitzmon," the flying beetle said proudly.  "Now, tell us where the Hazard 

Digivice-bearer is, and we'll go easy on you guys."

Henry held his axe up cautiously while he looked at his D-Arc for more info.  He frowned at the screen, as it seemed to take an unusually long time to find the data.  "Chakmon, Hybrid-level?  What's a Hybrid?"

"We're a special type of Digimon, created specifically to take out the Digidestined," Chakmon said confidently.  "And we have more than enough power to defeat you."

Jeri hung back behind Grapeleomon, who stood in front of her protectively.  "Henry, do these guys sound like kids?"

Henry nodded in agreement as he tried to analyze the enemy Digimon's voices.  Now that he thought about it, they did sound like teenagers, just about his own age.  Also, Henry noticed that the majority of the Digimon that had been attacking them had backed off, or run in another direction.  Henry just hopped that the others were faring better than themselves.

"No way are we telling you guys anything!" he said defiantly, while Rapidmon hovered in front of him.

"Besides, what can a snowman with a little gun do?" Rapidmon chuckled at his joke, until he had to quickly dodge a barrage of snowballs from Chakmon.  "Hey, watch it, you could take somebody's eye out with that thing!"

"What do you think I'm trying to do?!" Chakmon shouted back, as he jumped into the air.  "Snow Bomber!"

"I'll show you some real firepower!  Rapid Fire!"

Rapidmon's missiles collided with Chakmon's attack- and unfortunately, Chakmon's first shots cancelled out Rapimon's attack, and opened the way for more fire from Chakmon.

Rapidmon flew up to meet Chakmon in mid-air, and quickly kicked Chakmon into the air.

"Heh, take that you little snow cone!" Rapidmon said happily as he watched Chakmon go flying up, and then start falling again.  He wound up for another kick, when suddenly Chakmon was surrounded in Digi-Code.

"Chakmon!  Slide Evolution!  Blizzarmon!"

Rapidmon's eyes widened.  "What?!"

He quickly dodged to the right as the now much larger Blizzarmon dropped right through where he had been a moment before.

"Let's see how you handle a Beast Hybird," Blizzarmon said, as he lowered his head towards Rapidmon.  "Glacier Torpedo!"

Blizzarmon's long hair shot out and entangled Rapidmon and then started pulling him in.

"Hey!" Rapidmon shouted as he struggled to escape.  "Henry, a little help here!"

Henry quickly shuffled through his cards quickly, and then chose one and slashed it.  "Digi-modify!  Snimon's Twin Sickle Activate!"

"All right!" Rapidmon cheered as a pair of sickles appeared on his arm, temporarily replacing his missile launchers.  "Twin Sickle!"

Blizzarmon cried out in pain as Rapidmon cut his way free, and was knocked backwards as Rapidmon kicked him again.  Recovering quickly, Blizzarmon grabbed his two axes, and hurled them at Rapidmon, who knocked them aside with his sickles, before Snimon's weapons disappeared.

Menawhile, Blitzmon had simply lunged at Grappleomon, who easily dodged, and kicked Blitzmon away.

Blitzmon put his two hands together and flew at Grappleomon again, shouting "Thor Hammer!"

Grappleomon blocked with his forearms, and shouted "Lion Whirlwind Kick!" and sent Blitzmon flying until he crashed into a tree.

Blitzmon shook his head once to clear it and then glared at Grappleomon.  "So, that's the way you want to play, huh?!

"Blitzmon!  Slide Evolution!  Bolgmon!"

Blitzmon fell to the ground, and landed with a loud thud.  Grappleomon kept his guard up, and was ready when Bolgmon shouted "Ultimate Thunder!" and started dodging the electric balls.

Unfortuantely, Bolgmon kept on firing, sounding half-crazed as he kept firing Grappleomon, and also destroying quite a few tree.  Grappleomon couldn't dodge the attacks forever, and when one connected with his foot, he cried out in pain and dropped to the ground, making him an easy target for more Ultimate Thunders from Bolgmon.

A few more attacks later, and Bolgmon lowered his head so that his cannon-like head was aimed straight at Grappleomon and then what looked like an aiming lens flipped up on his back.

"Leomon!" Jeri cried desperately, and quickly searched through her cards and then pulled out the first Ultimate level card she saw.

Bolgmon's cannon glowed.  "Bye-bye.  Field Destroyer!"

Bolgmon fired at the same time Jeri yelled out "Digi-modify!  LadyDevimon's Darkness Wave activate!"

Grappleomon's eyes glowed red, and then he opened his mouth and roared "Darkness Wave!"

A blast of darkness flew at Bolgmon's attack, and then both attacks collided creating a terrific explosion.

Jeri winced as she thought of the damage Grappleomon had taken, but sighed in relief when she saw Grappleomon fly out of the smoke, straight at Bolgmon, and then started attack his backside.

Jeri suddenly gasped as she realized what Takato would do!  She ran over to Henry and pulled his right ear close to her mouth so she could whisper.

"Henry!  We've got to get back to the river!"

"What?!" Henry exclaimed, as he kept one eye on Rapidmon's battle.  "Why?"

"Takato's going to leave on his own!" she answered, and then started explaining at his shocked expression.  "He doesn't want to endanger the rest of us, so he's separating himself from everybody else!"

Henry frowned as he thought about everything he knew about Takato, and found that he agreed with Jeri.

He looked at the cards in his hand currently, and a plan started to form in his head.

"Jeri, do you have an Alias card?" he asked.

Jeri nodded as she took a moment to look through her deck, and then pulled it out.

"Jeri, when I count to three, slash it, and then tell Leomon to get back here while their distracted with the clones, okay?  I'll do the same with Terriermon."

Jeri nodded, so Henry raised his own hand and counted off softly and then as one both shouted "Digi-modify!  Alias Activate!"

Both Rapidmon and Grappleomon seemed to fritz out for a moment, and when Blizzarmon and Bolgmon tried to attack them again, they found that their attacks flew right through as if there was nothing there.

"Boy, was that close," Rapidmon said as he flickered in next to Henry in a reasonable imitation of Renamon's own teleportation.  "So, now what?"

"Dedigivolve," Henry ordered, causing the rest of his group to blink before he continued.  "Then we're going to biomerge.  We need to get back to the river fast, and with SaintGalgomon we can easily make a path through all the wandering Dark Ring Digimon."

Rapidmon quickly obeyed, shrinking back to Terriermon, and then Henry raised his D-Arc.  "Biomerge Activate!"

"Terriermon biomerge to… SaintGalgomon!"

Jeri gasped as she looked up and up at SaintGalgomon, a giant green walking, talking fortress.

SaintGalgomon crouched a little and lowered one hand.  "Climb in," Henry's voice came from the Mega.

"Henry?" Jeri asked hesitantly.  "How did you-?"

"I'll explain later," SaintGalgomon said.  "Now, come on, it'll be faster and safer if I carry you, and I don't want those two Hybrids to be chasing us the whole way."

Henry's last statement had reminded Jeri of the two Digimon they had been fighting and she turned around to see them coming towards her again.  She and Grappleomon quickly climbed into SaintGalgomon's hand, after which he then stood up.

Blizzarmon and Bolgmon skidded to a halt in front of SaintGalgomon.  "Damn, he's huge," Bolgmon swore when he saw the giant Mega.

"Hey guys, here's a little parting gift," Terriermon's voice said as lots and _lots of missile compartments opened all over SaintGalgomon's body._

"Uh oh," Blizzarmon said as missiles emerged from all the holes, then SaintGalgomon shouted "Burst Shot!"

Both Digimon were literally blasted off by the explosions, and as they went sailing through the air they were both surrounded by Digicode again. SaintGalgomon squinted at the disappearing two figures and could've sworn that they had turned into humans, but then they were out of sight.

Shrugging off the matter for later, SaintGalgomon's jet pack ignited and slowly started rising until his feet were above treetop level.

"Hey, Henry, why don't we just start bursting through," Terriermon asked Henry as he turned their combined body horizontal and then zoomed off towards the river.

"So that if anybody wants to follow us, they won't have a bunch of wrecked trees to follow," Henry answered as he tried not to knock over any trees accidentally.

***

Ryo destroyed another Digimon, and ducked as one flew over his head, tossed by Cyberdramon.

"Hey, buddy, will you watch where you chuck those things?" Ryo asked, as he waited for more Digimon to attack them.  Due to Cyberdramon's berserk tendencies, all the Digimon had started avoiding them.  Nobody, not even brainwashed Dark Ring/Spiral Digimon wanted to face Cyberdramon when he was like that.

Before Ryo could think anymore, two voices from above them shouted "Dark Side Attack!" and then missiles flew through the treetops, destroying them, and then heading towards ground level.

Ryo shielded himself with his cloak, and was actually surprised when Cyberdramon also leapt to cover him.  Most of the time all Cyberdramon had on his mind was killing, killing, and more killing.

Ryo looked up at where the tree tops had been and saw two metallic dragons hovering in the air.  Cyberdramon stood up straight again and growled at the two other dragons, and Ryo looked at the images his D-Arc displayed.

"Megadramon and Gigadramon.  Twin brother Ultimates, these two guys are no easy pickings.  Their Dark Side Attack is enough to wipe the land clear of nearly anything."

Ryo pulled out five cards, and then shifted through them.  "Cyberdramon, you wanna biomerge, or do you want to fight them alone?"

Cyberdramon's answer was to lunge at the closest dragon, which happened to be Megadramon.

"Erase Claw!" Cyberdramon roared as he gathered energy in his hands and hurled in a straight beam at Megadramon.

Moving with surprising speed considering its size, Megadramon dodged, and then opened up his two missile launchers.  "Dark Side Attack!"

Cyberdramon easily dodged, but didn't see the tail of Gigadramon come flying at him, and then whip him out of the sky.

"Cyberdramon can dodge their long range attacks, but he doesn't have enough physical power to handle their short range attacks," Ryo murmured as he looked at his five rarest cards carefully.  Choosing one, he put the rest away and then shouted to Cyberdramon "Get ready!  Digi-modify!  King Device Activate!"

Cyberdramon flew back up, but as he rose, his size also grew until he was the same size as the two other dramons.

He growled at them once before lunging, ignoring the missiles that both Megadramon and Gigadramon sent his way, absorbing the blows with his forearms, and then grabbing the tails of both other dragons as they tried to flee, then swung them together again and again into the ground, leaving a larger impression each time.

Ryo winced.  "Almost nobody deserves this.  _Almost nobody."_

***

Tai slashed at another Digimon, which instantly burst into data, even though Tai had already turned around to block the attack of another Digimon.

"Hey, MetalGreymon," he shouted over the noise of the battle, "Have you seen any Dark Rings or Spirals for a while?"

"Actually, no," MetalGreymon said as he realized that he _hadn't_ seen any of the mind-control advices on these Digimon.

"Which means that they're probably out of them, so that means it time to let loose!" Tai shouted as he leapt back onto MetalGreymon's head.  "Let it rip!"

"Giga Blaster!" MetalGreymon roared as his chest plate opened up again and he started firing missiles left and right, though making sure to keep an eye out of Dark Rings or Spirals just in case.

MetalGreymon kept firing until either of the Digimon around him had been deleted or they had retreated.

Tai looked at the backs of the retreating Digimon and frowned.  "Something's wrong.  This was too easy."

"And you'd be right!" roared a voice from the right as both Tai and MetalGreymon turned around just in time to see what looked like tornado made of fire coming towards them.

MetalGreymon swatted at the tornado with his right metal arm and the metal easily withstood the flames and something came flying out of the tornado right at Tai's head!

"Salamander Break!" the figure, a humanoid Digimon with red armor, long hair, and two horns shouted as he tried to kick Tai's head off.

Tai quickly ducked, and slashed with the Grey Sword, though the other Digimon was too quick and dodged the attack.

Before Tai could attack again, the Digimon had leapt off of MetalGreymon's head, out of his reach, and back to the ground.

"So, you're the great Tai Kamiya!" the red Digimon said as he looked at Tai.  "Not much to look at, though I've gotta admit, nice goggles!"

Tai blinked at the odd statement and then grinned as he readjusted his headware.  "Why, thank you.  And who are you?"

"I'm Agnimon, special Hybrid Digimon, and I've been sent here to look for Tamers in general, and the Hazard D-Arc to be specific," Agnimon said.  "Oh, and in the interests of fair play, watch out for Grottomon and Arbormon behind you."

"You think I'm gonna fall for that?" Tai asked before he heard a growl from behind him and whirled around, just in time to catch a swing from a pick-axe on his sword, and to receive a kick to the chest from someone else.

Tai went flying off of MetalGreymon's head, but he still managed to land on his feet as he evaluated his two new opponents.

He guessed that the purple troll was Grottomon, while the brown thing was probably Arbormon.

"Me smash you into little pieces!" Grottomon grunted as he jumped into the air, swinging his axe again.

"Hope you have your affairs in order," Arbormon added as his legs lengthened again, though they were still attached to his body by strings.  "Machinegun Dance!"

"And I guess I'll take you on," Agnimon said as his fist burst into flames, sorta like Flamedramon used to do.  "Burning Salamander!"

He punched two fireballs at MetalGreymon, but the Ultimate just batted the attack aside with his metal arm.  MetalGreymon growled as he advanced towards a now nervous Agnimon.  "Is that the best you got?  Cause if it is, then you're not going to stop me from helping Tai!"

Agnimon pulled his resolve back together and jumped at MetalGreymon again, and then started spinning in midair again until he was once again surrounded by a wall of fire.

MetalGreymon just swatted at the tornado again with his metal arm, but he missed Agnimon himself.  Agnimon was still flying through the air as he shouted "Salamander Break!" and slammed his foot into MetalGreymon's jaw sending the Ultimate Digimon flying backwards.

Tai, who was busy dodging both Grottomon's and Arbormon's attacks, saw MetalGreymon's condition and quickly knocked both of his opponents onto their backs for a moment so he could leap towards MetalGreymon.

"MetalGreymon!  Are you okay?" Tai asked worriedly as the Ultimate Digimon rose again.

"I think so, but for such a little guy, he sure packs a punch," MetalGreymon said as he rubbed his jaw with his organic arm.

"Well, maybe its time we even up the odds," Tai said as he held Digivice up.  MetalGreymon shrunk back to Agumon, and then he was bathed in light from Tai's Digivice.

"Agumon warp-digivolve to… Wargreymon!"

"Now, that's better," Wargreymon said as he touched his healed jaw with one claw gently.  He turned towards the three Hybrid Digimon waiting.  "So, you guys up for round two?"

"You're not the only ones with tricks up your sleeves," Agnimon said as he was enveloped in Digi-Code.

"Agnimon! Slide Evolution! Vritramon!"

"What-?" Tai wondered at he looked at the new figure of a dragon with red wing and armor bearing a slight resemblance to Agnimon, but looking much more bestial.

"You guys had better slide evolve if you want to stand a chance against him," Vritramon advised Grottomon and Arbormon as he fiddled with the controls of his own Digivice.

"Okay," Arbormon said as he was covered in Digi-code.

"Arbormon! Slide Evolution! Petaldramon!"

Grottomon grumbled at taking orders from Vritramon, but did the same as Arbormon.

"Grottmon! Slide Evolution! Gigasmon!"

"Hm, you guys still think you can take on a Mega _and_ me?" Tai asked as he held his sword up.

"We can sure try," Vritramon rumbled as the gauntlets on his arms moved.  "Corona Blaster!"

Wargreymon's snapped his shield together and it easily withstood the red bullets from Vritramon.

Gigasmon slammed the ground with his fist and shouted "Earthquake!"

Wargreymon took to the air, but Tai had to struggle to keep standing.

Petaldramon stood up on two legs, and the flower around his neck started spinning.  "Leaf Cyclone!"

A blast of green energy flew from his nostrils but Tai reflected the attack back at Petaldramon with his sword.  The rebounded attack sent Petaldramon crashing onto his back.

Vritramon was enveloped in flames, and then roared "Flame Storm!" as a huge blast of fire flew at Wargreymon.

"Mega Claw!" Wargreymon started spinning and then drilled right through the attack as a golden tornado and rammed into Vritramon, sending him crashing into a tree.

"Hurricane Bomber!" Gigasmon, using yet another spinning attack, turned into a brown tornado that then came right at Tai.  Tai braced himself, so that when the tornado was about to hit him, he drove his sword straight into the center, and was rewarded with a loud cry of pain as Gigasmon fell to the ground.

Gigasmon growled, and then hit the ground again with his Earthquake attack, and then a huge crater formed around him, and Tai found himself rolling down the sudden incline.

Gigasmon roared in triumphed and jumped down, about to crush Tai with his Earthquake attack, when Wargreymon came out of nowhere and kicked him out of the hole and into a tree.

"Wargreymon, how strong do you think these guys are?" Tai asked as Wargreymon helped his stand up, and then carried him up back to level ground.

"I'd say about Ultimate strength.  Weak Ultimates, but combined they may be trouble."

Vritramon groaned as he managed to fly back to where Gigasmon and Petaldramon were gathering.

"Okay, guys, I think its time for our trump card," Vritramon said as he landed, and then was surrounded in Digi-code again, and much to Tai and Wargreymon's shock, dedigivolved into a human boy.

"What is it, some form of biomerging?" Tai wondered.

The boy smirked.  "Nope, we have the legendary spirits of the Warrior Ten.  They allow us to become Digimon ourselves."

The boy then spoke to his allies.  "You'd better step back, or else you might get burned.  After this I'll take on Wargreymon, and you two can handle Tai."

"Okay, Takuya," Petaldramon said as he and Gigasmon backed up.

Takuya then raised his own Digivice.  "Now, get ready to see the combined power of my D-Scanner and both my Human and Beast Spirits!"

"Double Spirit Evolution! Ardhamon!"

A burst of intense red light, and then what looked like a fusion of both Agnimon and Vritramon appeared.

"Wargreymon, do you think he's on par with a Mega now?" Tai asked his partner quietly.

"Maybe," Wargreymon said carefully, while still trying to gauge Ardhamon's strength.  "Probably a weak Mega, but still strong enough to put up a good fight."

"So, do you wanna surrender now, or shall we do this the hard way?" Ardhamon asked as he held up both arms.

"You know our answer," Tai said, as he gripped his sword tighter.  "We always like the hard way!"

"Your funeral," Ardhamon shrugged as both of his gauntlets split and glowed with fire.  "Brahma Shil!"

A ton of fireballs flew at the Tai and Wargreymon.  Tai blocked any of the ones heading towards him with his weapon while Wargreymon defended himself with his own shield.

"Ah, will you stop that?!" Tai shouted in a frustrated tone as he was getting tired of blocking small fireballs.  And was _very surprised when the Grey Sword shot out a huge blast of energy._

Ardhamon only had time to say "What?" before Tai's accidental attack sent him flying back.

Tai could only stare in shock at his weapon, and then grinned widely.  "I never knew it could do that!" He pointed the Grey Sword at the remaining two Hybrids.  "Who's next?"

"I'm not out of the game yet," Ardhamon said as he managed to stand back up, though his armor was missing a few pieces here and there.  "And do you guys want to tell Lady Hikari that we retreated?"  
  


"How dare you talk about my little sister like that?!" Tai roared in anger as he again fired his sword at Ardhamon, but this time Ardhamon managed to block some of the blast's power with his gauntlets.

Gigasmon and Petaldramon looked at each other, and then shrugged.  Gigasmon pulled out a bottle from somewhere and sprinkled something on the ground, and then a bunch of Golemon quite literally sprouted out of the ground.  Petaldramon crawled over to one of the trees, and actually devoured it whole, and suddenly grew much, much bigger.

"Do you want those two bozos or the pyromaniac?" Tai asked his partner.

"I'll take Ardhamon," Wargreymon answered as he lifted up from the ground, and then flew straight at Ardhamon, claws outstretched.  Ardhamon was ready though, and then the two Digimon started engaging in a test of strength to see who would win.

Tai ran through part of the crowd of Golemon, slashing and after a minute he paused, and all of the Golemon behind him burst into stray data.  Petaldramon tried to stomp on him, but Tai easily dodged Petaldramon's foot and jumped up, slashing Petaldramon's side.  Unfortunately, the big gash from Tai's sword resealed itself in seconds.

Tai sweatdropped when he saw that he had done no damage to Petaldramon.  "This… could take awhile."

***

Dukemon ran, not caring at all what he ran into (considering he's a Mega now, there's not much that can bother him).

"Hey, Takato is that- you?  Takato?"

The voice stopped Dukemon, as he turned to the side and saw Kazu, Kenta and their Digimon crouching behind a log.

"Is that some digivolution of Guilmon?" Kazu asked, as he looked at the Guilmon mask on Dukemon's face.  "But where's Takato?"

"Uh, Kazu, I think that _is Takato," Kenta said, sounding stunned._

"What?!" Kazu said, sounding just as surprised as Takato had been at first.  "Then, how the heck did Takato become a Digimon?"

"I heard Henry mention it once, something called biomerging, where the Digimon and human become one," Kenta explained.  "Anyways, Takato, get down, these guys are looking all over for you, and you don't want to get caught, right?"

Dukemon hesitated, wondering how to tell the two boys, two of his oldest and closest friends, that he couldn't trust them?

"What's he waiting for?" Kenta said nervously as he looked around to make sure no evil Digimon were around.

Kazu himself was still puzzled as to why Takato wasn't hiding like them, or better yet, helping the others fight.  Then he saw the look in Dukemon's eyes, and realized what he was going to do.

"He's leaving," Kazu slowly, not sure he wanted to believe it, but slowly starting to understand Takato's reasons.

"But, why would he want to leave?" Kenta asked desperately.

Kazu looked sadly at Kenta.  "Remember that blast we saw from Matt?  What Matt did, eventually any of us could do eventually, and Takato would never want our friendship to come to that."

Kenta nodded as he too understood now.  They both looked at Dukemon, but before any of them could anything more, they heard roaring, and from the sound of it, whatever was doing it was getting closer.

Kazu froze for a moment, before he looked Dukemon directly in the eye.  "Go.  Now.  We'll hold them off."

Dukemon looked surprised for a moment, before Kazu shouted "Go!" again, and then leapt up out of their hiding place.

"Hey, over here!" Kazu yelled, starting to run in the opposite direction of the riverbank.  He looked one more time at Dukemon, before he broke into a full sprint, Guardromon loyally following.

"Good luck, Takato," Kenta whispered, though Dukemon with his enhanced sense still heard it, before he too started running in the opposite direction, making as much noise as possible.

Dukemon could only stare in shock for a moment, before he turned back to the river.

"Thanks, guys."

***

"Uh, Kazu, maybe this wasn't such a good idea," Kenta said as both of them were being chased by a small army of Digimon.

"Well, too late to change our minds now!" Kazu said as he skidded to a halt and pulled out his D-Arc and cards.

A Deltamon and a Triceramon came charging towards them, knocking down quite a few trees in the process.

"You take the Triceramon, I'll handle the Deltamon!" Kazu ordered.

"Why do I have to fight the Ultimate?" Kenta asked as he too pulled out his cards.

"Cause I'm not the one with a partner stuck at the Mega level because of a freak accident!" Kazu answered, as he pulled out the Elven sword he was still carrying.  He remembered that Tai had given the sword to him back at Weathertop, and wondered why that had seemed like a lifetime ago.

"Flamedramon's Fire Rocket Activate!" he shouted, slashing a Flamedramon card as Guardromon flew right into Deltamon's Triplex Force, and then winced.  He didn't need to be reminded of Davis and his Digimon right now.

"MarineAngemon, try to trap him," Kenta commanded, as he flipped through his cards for something to use.

MarineAngemon pipi'ed in agreement, and then blew out a giant heart bubble that Triceramon ran right into, and then found that he couldn't break through it with his sharp horns, despite all his best efforts.

Kenta sighed in relief as he saw that Triceramon was contained, at least for now, before a dark blur appeared behind Triceramon, and before the dinosaur could react, it had been hit and its data loaded.  The dark blur then leapt over the barrier MarineAngemon had erected and then started advancing on Kenta and MarineAngemon.

"What are you?!" Kenta asked as he back up.

"What?" Kazu looked at the new Digimon, and actually shivered when he saw him.  "What is that?"  
  


"That's a Duskmon, and I'm a Wolfmon," answered a voice right from behind him.

Kazu jumped, and apparently that saved his life as he felt something whip very close to his head.

Guardromon quickly flew in front of Kazu, and then stared down at the white humanoid Digimon that had tried to kill his partner.

"What manner of knave are you?" Guardromon challenged.

The new Digimon, Wolfmon only said one word, "Hybrid," and then swung his beam weapon around in a wide arc, before yelling "Licht Sieger!" and jumping at Guardromon.

"Guardian Barrage!" Guardromon shouted as he fired his missiles at Wolfmon.

Wolfmon spun his blades, and sliced the missiles in half before they could hit him, and then swung his leg, kicking Guardromon away.

"Guardromon!" Kazu shouted as he raced over to Guardromon's side.

"Don't worry, Kazu," Guardromon said as he struggled to stand up again.  "I will not allow this evildoer to triumph!"

"Yeah, that's the way," Kazu cheered, as he pulled out another card, and was surprised when it burst into blue light.  "And this is how you're going to win!  Digi-modify!  Matrix Digivolution Activate!"

"Guardromon digivolve to… Andromon!"

The now revitalized Andromon leapt at Wolfmon, while his right hand started spinning as he used his Lightning Blade to slash at Wolfmon, who was suddenly put on the defensive as surprisingly Andromon wielded more power with just one hand then Wolfmon could muster with both arms.

Andromon managed to knock Wolfmon's saber out of his hand, struck him with his left hand, then Andromon jumped back, and shouted "Gatling Attack!" as he fired two missiles from his chest.

Wolfmon was quick to react though as he braced his left arm and fired a blast of energy that destroyed Andromon's missiles in midair.

"You're stronger than I thought," Wolfmon muttered as he surveyed his now Ultimate-level opponent.

He reached behind him, pulled out something that resembled a Digivice, and then-

"Wolfmon! Slide Evolution! Garmmon!"

"What the?" Kazu said as he saw that the bipedal wolf had changed into a more normal type wolf, on all fours, though with two blades on his side, somewhat resembling MetalGarurumon.

 Before Kazu had any more time to react, wheels lowered from the heels of the new Digimon, Garmmon.

A cry of "Speed Star!" and suddenly Garmmon was gone!  Kazu blinked to make sure he was seeing right, and then realized that Garmmon had superspeed, which was why it looked like he had disappeared.

Kazu had only realized this when Andromon started getting cut by the blades on Garmmon's back as the wolf used his speed to attack Andrmon again and again before the android Digimon could even begin to defend himself.

Kenta had actually managed to find a way to improve his situation- if you called having a unholy figure of darkness trapped in a giant heart bubble an improvement.

"I hope Kazu's doing okay," Kenta said worriedly as he heard the sound of swords clashing nearby.

Unfortunately, because Kenta was distracted, he didn't notice the power Duskmon was radiating, until the Tamer heard the sound of cracking, and then ducked as the bubble exploded.

When the flash from the explosion cleared, Kenta looked up and saw that Duskmon was kneeling in the small crater he had created.

At first, Kenta was scared by the sheer power Duskmon had just shown, but then he saw that Duskmon was deeply exhausted, and was heaving. Apparently, breaking out of MarineAngmeon's bubble had taken a lot out of him.

Kenta was trying to think of a way to boost MarineAngemon's offensive power enough to take out this strange dark Digimon, when Duskmon started glowing with more power suddenly.

"Uh oh," Kenta said as Duskmon disappeared, only to be replaced by a monstrous bird.

"Duskmon!  Slide Evolution! Velgmon!"

Velgmon crowed loudly, and then took off, the winds generated by his wings knocking over Kenta.

Velgmon circled in the sky for a minute, as if it were a giant vulture, when it seemed to focus again on Kenta and some semblance of intelligence entered its eyes again as it dove at Kenta.

"Master of Darkness!"

A black beam of energy flew from the third eye on Velgmon's head, and flew straight at Kenta, but MarineAngemon quickly blew another bubble in front of Kenta that easily deflected the attack.  

Velgmon was obscenely powerful for his level, but MarineAngmeon was still a Mega, with weak attack strength, but with more than enough defensive strength to make up for it.

Velgmon tried to strafe them a couple more times, but MarineAngemon held him back each time.

After the third time they went through this, Velgmon lost its patience and seemed to be preparing for something drastic when it spotted the ongoing battle between Garmmon and Andromon and decided on a new target.

"Oh no," Kenta said he saw Velgmon veer off in Kazu's general direction.  "Kazu, look out!"

"Huh?" Kazu asked as he glanced in Kenta's direction, but didn't pay too much attention as he was too busy watching his own battle.

Andromon had finally managed to figure out a pattern to Garmmon's movements, and right not Andromon's energized right hand was straining against Garmmon's own blades.

Kazu then caught sight of the giant bird bearing down on Andromon and barely had enough time to shout "Look out, Andromon!" before Velgmon was attacking.

Andromon had heard Kazu, and just barely managed to duck in time, but this allowed Garmmon to gain the upper hand as it pushed Andromon over and literally ran right over him.

Andromon got back up, as Kazu ducked as Velgmon made another pass, and Kenta and MarineAngemon had managed to catch up.

"How come you didn't tell me about that overgrown turkey?!" Kazu yelled at Kenta, prompting a sigh, but they ceased their arguing when they saw that Garmmon had halted in front of them.

"You'd better surrender now, or else you'll be in even deeper trouble," he advised.

"What, surrender and be killed?  Like that's any better then right now," Kazu snorted.

"Well, we wouldn't kill you, we need you as hostages to lure the Hazard Digivice bearer to us," Garmmon explained.

"Then they'd have a long wait," Kazu muttered as he thought about Takato's flight towards the river.  "Sorry, but a Tamer never surrenders!"

"You had a choice," Garmmon said, sounding resigned.  "Velgmon!"

Kazu and Kenta looked up to see that Velgmon was now flying vertical to the ground, and seemed to be tracing a glowing line in the ground with one wing tip.

Garmmon reversed direction and made it out of the circle just before Velgmon completed it.

"I don't like the looks of this," Kazu said.  "Andromon, try to break out of here!"

"Gatling Missile!" Andromon's attack soared toward the wall of the dome, hit- and did absolutely nothing.

The dome started pulsing ominously, and then started shrinking slowly.

Suddenly, Kenta had an idea.  "Kazu, Andromon, get close!"

Outside, Garmmon was staring at the black dome, and the gruesome face on the top.  Then, the face and Velgmon said at the same time "Zone Deleter!"

Velgmon's attack shrunk until it was only a small black dot, and then it exploded again, creating a large crater.

"I thought I told you to take it easy, we still want at least one of them alive!" Garmmon shouted up at Velgmon, but the other Digimon just cawed back in anger.  Then Garmmon saw something still glowing in the center of the crater Velgmon had created and gasped.  "Impossible!"

Still safe, and mostly unharmed, Kazu and Kenta were still standing, surrounded by another of MarineAngemon's bubbles.

"Man, I didn't think we would survive that," Kazu said, sounding awed.  "Next time I start making fun of your partner, remind me to shut up, okay?"

"Yeah, but I don't think it's over yet," Kenta said as the bubble slowly floated to the ground, and then popped.

Garmmon growled, and then started howling loudly.

"Man, what is he doing?" Kazu said as he clamped his hands over his ears to try to block out the sound.

"I believe he's calling for reinforcements," Andromon answered as he analyzed Garmmon's calls.

"What?!" Kenta said.  "Just what we don't need, more of these Hybrids!"

***

"Mega Claw!" Wargreymon shouted as he punched Ardhamon, sending the Advanced Hybrid back, then Wargreymon tossed a min-Terra Force at Ardhamon, which Ardhamon barely dodged.

Then, all five combatants heard Garmmon's howling.  Ardhamon listened for a moment, before he barked an order.  "You two go help Kouji, I'll take care of these guys."

Gigasmon then started digging, and before Tai could stop them, Petaldramon had also crawled down the hole and both had disappeared.

He then turned to see Wargreymon still eyeing Ardhamon  "You don't think you can hold both Tai and me here?"

"No," Ardhamon said truthfully.  "But I can certainly distract you at least."

Ardhamon cried out as he concentrated, and then formed a ball of energy between his hands, and then it grew until it was the same size as him when he held it above his head.

"Hey, that's my signature attack!" Wargreymon protested, as he himself summoned another Terra Force.

"Well, let's see who's is better," Ardhamon said.  "Brahma Shil!"  And he pushed the sphere towards Wargreymon.

"Oh no you don't," Wargreymon said he hurled his own attack.  "Terra Force!"

The two attacks sped towards each other, and then they hit.  Ardhamon was already flying away when the attacks hit, so he wasn't blinded by the bright flash of light, but both Wargreymon and Tai were.

"Damn!  Wargreymon, can you see?" Tai asked as he frantically tried to clear his vision.

"No, and I've lost track of where Ardhamon went," the Mega answered.

"I just hope that the others are doing okay," Tai said as he sheathed his sword.

***

MarineAngemon was still managing to hold off Velgmon while Garmmon and Andromon grapple again, when a giant hole opened up beneath him, causing him to drop.

MarineAngemon was distracted by Andromon's fall, and that allowed him to be blindsided by a blast of leaves from Petaldramon.

Gigasmon leapt out of the hole he had created, though Andromon had managed to climb out by then too.  Too bad they were serious outnumbered now.

"So, these guys are Tamers," Fairymon said as she hovered in the air.  "Not much to look at, I must say."

"You two must really be losing your touch if you need help with these two guys," Ranamon said as a small rain cloud hovered over her head.

"I don't see you two having any captive Tamers," Garmmon growled at her.

"Well, we would've if it hadn't been for her," Fairymon said, sticking a thumb at Ranamon.

"It was so your fault-"

"Would you girls drop it?!" Ardhamon ordered.

"You stay out of this!" both Fairymon and Ranamon shouted at Ardhamon.

Ardhamon backed up for a second, before he just decided to ignore that last comment.  "Just slide evolve.  There are a couple of Megas wandering around, and I wouldn't want to take any of them on without Mercuremon.  Speaking of him, where is that guy?"

All the Hybrid Digimon present just shrugged, so then Ardhamon, as the unofficial leader turned to Kazu and Kenta.

"You guys are outnumbered nearly four to one," Ardhamon said to the two Tamers, as behind him Ranamon slid evolved to Calamaramon, and Fairymon to Shutumon.  "Now surrender, or else we carry your bodies back to Isengard."

Kazu clenched his fists, but before he could answer, another yell attracted all of their attention.

"Nobody's taking anybody as long as I'm around!" Matt roared as he sprinted towards the clearing.  Gabumon was running alongside him, until in a flash of light, he was replaced by MetalGarurumon, armed and ready to tear some Digimon apart.

Matt whipped out his own blade and jumped at Ardhamon, forcing the Hybrid to block Matt's attacks with his arms.

MetalGarurumon flew right into the center of the gathering, and unleashed a whole barrage of missiles in almost every direction, making sure not to hit Kazu, Kenta, or Matt.

Ardhamon kicked Matt away, just in time for Gigasmon to tackle him, but Matt stabbed his sword into Gigasmon's arm, forcing the earth Digimon away, just in time for him to be knocked into the air by a blast of wind from Shutumon.  Calamaramon started strangling him in one of her tentacles.

Matt strained, then pulled out the Garuru Gun, and fumbling for the trigger, actually found a switch, which he randomly flipped, and to his shock, a laser blade somewhat similar to Wolfmon's own weapons extended from the barrel.  He swung, and Calamaramon shrieked as Matt sliced off one of her tentacles.

MetalGarurumon was being slashed again and again by Garmmon as the Mega didn't have the speed to keep up with the Beast Hybrid, but once MetalGarurumon took to the air, Garmmon's speed advantage significantly lessened.

Garmmon bounded off a tree and at MetalGaruurmon, but this time the metal wolf shot a blast of icy power at Garmmon, sending the Beast Hybrid to the ground with a frozen lower half, but this left MetalGarurumon open to a Master of Darkness attack from Velgmon.

The attack slammed into MetalGarurumon's back, and slammed him into the ground, but MetalGarurumon managed to roll onto his back and fire a Giga Missile from his belly at Velgmon, effectively clearing the skies of the dark buzzard.  Petaldramon stomped towards MetalGarurumon, but a Ice Wolf Claw froze most of Petaldramon's body, and when he managed to break free, he was now back to his original size.

Matt cut one of Shutumon's wings off, and then shattered part of Ardhamon's armor.  He then jumped backwards, turned the switch again, and then shouted at Kazu and Kenta "Get down!"

The two boys, seeing how Matt was holding the Garuru Gun yelped and then jumped behind a tree.

"Take this!" Matt shouted as he pulled the trigger at the same moment a mirror appeared in mid-air before him.

"Foolish human," a voice said as a tall Digimon covered with mirrors emerged from the first mirror.

"Mercuremon!" Ardhamon shouted angrily.  "Where the hell have you been?!"

"Preparing for his moment," the Warrior of Steel said calmly while Matt's attack streaked towards them.  "Generous Mirror!"

To everyone's shock, the ball of energy entered Mercuremon's left mirror, and then emerged from the right mirror heading right back at Matt!

Matt tried to raise his arms in what he knew was a useless gesture to shield himself, but at the last moment MetalGarurumon threw himself in front of the attack, shielding Matt from part of the attack.

The ensuing explosion attracted everybody's attention, and when the light cleared, a very bruised Matt and Tsunomon lay against a tree.

Ardhamon gaped at the damage.  "Remind me never to make Mercuremon mad," he whispered Shutumon, who happened to be the closest.

Shutumon nodded fervently, before she noticed the pain from the limp of her right wing.

"Why do you just slide evolve back to Fairymon?" Ardhamon asked her, seeing her wince from the damage.

Shutumon blinked at the surprisingly bright idea from Ardhamon.  "Sure, you just like staring at me in that form better."

"N-no, I don't!" Ardhamon said, actually blushing.  "Anyways, we've gotta get out of here before the rest of these guy's friends arrive.  Velgmon, pick up that giant tin-can, Fairymon, grab that little pink thing, and I'll," Ardhamon reached down, and before Kazu and Kenta could draw their swords, had picked them up and slung them over his shoulders.  "Let's move it!  Garmmon, tell what's left of our soldiers to retreat too."

Garmmon nodded in agreement, and then howled loudly.

***

Tomoki moaned as he pulled his head out of the dirt, and then heard the howling.  "Hey, Junpei, sounds like that the signal to retreat."

Junpei managed to pull himself up.  "Ow, remind me to watch out for the giant heavily armed dog next time, okay?"

"Yeah, me too," Tomoki said as he pulled out his green D-Scanner.  "Come on, I need somebody to carry me, neither Chakmon nor Blizzarmon is all that fast."

Junpei pulled out his own Digivice and then "Spirit Evolution! Blitzmon!"

"Spirit Evolution!  Chakmon!"

Blitzmon bent down, grabbed Chakmon in his arms, and then opened his insectoid wings and took off.

***

"N-no, come back," Matt said weakly as he strained to get back up, but the Hybrids were already leaving, with a screaming Kazu and Kenta, who were desperately trying to escape from Ardhamon's clutches and to try to save their dying friend.

Matt tried to think of a part of his body that didn't hurt, and unfortunately, came with nothing.  He looked up and saw Garmmon stopping by his body for a moment, as if contemplating whether to finish it, but then there was a loud roar, and a golden tornado tore into Garmmon's side, sending the lupine Digimon flying.  When Garmmon landed, he managed to get back on his feet, and zoomed off at high speed before Wargreymon could pursue.

"Matt!" Matt dimly heard a voice call his name, and then the Digidestined of Friendship tilted his friend to the left to see Tai running towards him.

Matt tried to sit up, but only strained his injuries, and slid down again.  "They took… Kazu and Kenta," he managed to say as Tai leaned down next to him.

"We'll get them back," Tai assured him as he examined Matt's injuries and didn't like what he saw.

"Takato?" Matt asked, trying not to sound too guilty.

"Gone," Tai said, looking Matt directly in the eye.

Matt let his eyes fall shut good.  "Good.  Tai, I-I tried to take-"

"I know," Tai said, nodding.  "No offense, but your weapon isn't the most subtle one to used for theft."

"Heh, I guess you're right there," Matt said as his breathing slowed.  "Tai, about that other thing…"

"What other thing?" Tai asked, searching desperately through his pockets for medical supplies.

"About Sora…"

Tai froze at that, and then looked at Matt's face.  Instead of the bitterness Tai expected to see, there was instead only regret there.

"I know we fought over her, and it seemed that I stole her, but I never wanted it to go this far," Matt whispered.

"Yeah, but things have a way of blowing up," Tai said, smiling sadly.

"I just hope you two are happy together," Matt said softly.  "I saw you two at the hill.  Throughout our entire relationship, she never once had a special place like that with me."

Matt tried to get up again, and this time managed to sit up against the tree with Tai's help.

"One moment of madness, and all my honor, pride, gone," he said bitterly.

"No, you've kept your honor," Tai said, patting Matt on the back, and causing Matt to wince.  "You fought bravely.  And throughout all our fights, I have always known that I could trust you with my life."

"You did?" Matt asked, surprised.

"Of course," Tai said, clasping Matt's hand.  "You're one of my best friends, after all."

"Thanks, Tai," Matt said as his breathing slowed.

As Matt's breathing slowed until he felt his last breath leave him, the Crest of Friendship glowed underneath his shirt until, when Matt's chest fell for the last time, it exploded with light and enveloped Matt in its glow.

"Matt?" Tai asked, as he was forced to look away from the bright light.

When he could see again, Matt's body had been miraculously restored, as well as Tsunomon, who was once again Gabumon.

Matt blinked as he found that he could breathe again, and that all the pain was gone- and then noticed that Tai was still holding his hand.

"Uh, Tai, you know you can let go now," Matt said.

Tai looked at where his hand was, blinked, and then jerked backwards.  "Now, uh, don't you be getting any ideas-"

Matt laughed, as he climbed up on his own power, and shook his partner awake.  "What happened?"  
  


Tai pointed at Matt's shirt, and he looked down to see that his crest was still glowing.  "I think your crest healed you."

"But why?" Matt asked, tugging at the chain his Crest hung on and pulling it out from underneath his shirt.  "All it's ever done before was just let Gabumon digivolve past Champion."

"Maybe cause at that moment you were the truest definition of a friend you've ever been?" Tai asked, and then grimaced.  "I can't believe I just said something that sappy."

"Don't worry, I won't tell anybody," Matt said, smiling.  "After all, what are friends for?"

Tai laughed, and then turned serious again.  "It's nice to be on the same side again, Matt."

"Hey, we were never on opposite sides to begin with," Matt corrected.  "Anyways, what are we going to do now?  Go after Takato, or chase those weird Hybrids that are carrying Kazu and Kenta?"

"No, for better or worse, the Fellowship of the Digivice is over," Tai said.  "Though considering the looks Rika's been giving him, I doubt he'll go to Mordor alone.  And I think Jeri and Henry know him well enough to join him before he leaves."

"But what if they do the same thing I tried to do?" Matt asked, thinking of his own treacherous act.

"Those three are Takato's closest friends," Tai said confidently.  "If anyone can resist the temptation, they can."

***

Dukemon saw the river come into view after what seemed like forever.  He paused a moment, unsure if anybody else was there.  He wanted to leave before anybody else could try to persuade him to stay.

"Going somewhere, gogglehead?"

Dukemon yelped, and then turned his head to see that Sakuyamon casually leaning against a tree, arms crossed.

Dukemon gulped, and then answered, trying to keep his voice steady.  "Uh, n-no, I was just checking here to make everything was okay, yeah- wait a second, is that you Rika?"

"Of course," Sakuyamon said.  "If a novice like _you could figure it out, than a Tamer of my caliber could definitely master it easily."_

"Uh, right," Dukemon said, glad that Sakuyamon couldn't see the nervousness on his face.  It had been bad enough facing Tai, but trying to leave with her standing there was magnitudes harder.

"If you think you're going to head off towards Mordor alone, then you've really become delusional," Sakuyamon said, destroying any chances Takato had of convincing her to let him go.  "Do you have any idea of how to get there in the first place?"

"But I can't let the others come with me!" Dukemon protested.  "Matt tried to-"

"Matt's a conceited bastard who's still sore over his ex-girlfriend," Sakuyamon snapped.  "And he has a whole country to think of."

"Don't you do, too?" Takato pointed out, thinking of the Elf kingdom they had just left.

"I left that place long ago," Sakuyamon said, sound sad for a moment.  Only for a moment though.  "And he was weak.  I have absolutely no interest in that hunk of junk, and I do know that you won't survive long out there alone."  
  


"I won't be alone, Guilmon will be right there," Dukemon said, trying to subtly edge towards Grani.  The glider beeped once as it sensed its true master for the first time in a millennium, and started powering up.

"A bread-scarfing Digimon will be no help in the wastelands of Mordor," Sakuyamon said and stood up straight.  "And don't think I didn't see that, gogglehead."

Dukemon took another step towards Grani.  "Saw what?"

"You moron, I can fly in this form, so don't think you're getting away on Grani that easily," Sakuyamon said.  "Listen, I know that you're worried about the rest of us, but I can definitely take care of myself.  I made an oath to follow you, even into the very depths of hell, and a true Tamer never runs away from anything.  So, either shut up and let me go with you, or we take this back to Tai."

"I'm sorry, Rika," Dukemon said once, as he summoned his weapons, and before a startled Sakuyamon could even erect a barrier, he had fired a low-power blast directly at her.  Not enough to harm her, of course, but enough to give him time to get at least a small head start.

He than sprinted towards Grani, which rose above the ground- only to be crushed back into the soft dirt by SaintGalgomon's foot.

Dukemon gasped at the sight of the giant Mega in front of him, and then recognized the bunny ears far above him on SaintGalgomon's face.  "Henry?"

"Takato!" shouted a voice from one of SaintGaglomon's hands as the Vaccine Mega crouched, and Jeri and Grappleomon leapt out, after which, SaintGaglomon split into the forms of Henry and Terriermon.

"Sorry, Takato, but we couldn't let you leave yet," Henry apologized as he looked at the flattened Grani, which was beeping rather indignantly.

"We're going with you Takato!" Jeri said determinedly.  "And there's nothing you can do to stop us!"

"But guys-" Takato started to protest before he was knocked down when someone whacked him in the back of his head with a large object.

"That was a cheap shot!" Sakuyamon said angrily, as she pulled Dukemon up until they were face to face.  Or at least were mask to mask.

Dukemon swallowed as he tried to regain his nerve.  He hadn't meant to hurt her, he _was_ trying to protect _them_ from themselves.  And though he was currently a Holy Knight, and Rika currently looked like a model, they were yet again in this position of her nearly strangling him.

"Rika, please, it/s better this way-"

"I'll tell you what we're going to do!" Sakuyamon roared at him, and for a moment, Takato thought he saw Rika's face appear overlaid Sakuyamon's own mask, but then it faded.  "Henry, Jeri, and you are going to get on that glider, and then we're all going to Mordor!  Got it?!"

"Uh, yes ma'am," Dukemon said.

Jeri reached up and laid a hand on Sakuyamon's shoulder.  "Please, put him down, he only has our best interests at heart."

Sakuyamon dropped Dukemon, growled, and then turned around.

"Takato, why do you want to leave so much?" Jeri asked gently.  "We saw Matt's attack, but don't you trust us?"

Dukemon shook his head.  "You don't understand.  Lately, as we've been getting closer and closer I feel this… hunger, rage inside me.  The closer we get to Mordor, the more this Digivice influences me.  And if its affecting me, then eventually it'll affect the rest of you, and I don't want to fight you."

"You didn't seem to have any problems a moment ago," Sakuyamon snapped, though at least now she wasn't facing away from him anymore.

"You didn't see the look in Matt's eyes," Dukemon said, sounding haunted.  "He actually wanted to kill me.  He would've fought me to the death, tried every weapon he had, simple to get at my D-Arc.  It was either him or me at that point, and I was just lucky that the blast threw him away.  I don't want to hurt any of my friends anymore.  And its _my_ destiny to destroy it-"

Sakuyamon snorted, a definitely very strange sound coming from the beautiful shaman.  "Destiny is just an excuse for the weak.  Truly strong people make their own destiny.  Takato, I've seen your strength, you stood up fine in Moria, and from what I've heard from Tai and Sora, you're a pretty good Tamer.  Now, you don't want to prove me wrong, right?"

Sakuyamon stretched out a hand to Dukemon to help him up.  Dukemon stared at her hand for a moment, before Jeri's and Henry's hands also reached for him.

"Takato, we'll always be your friends, and will help you through whatever happens," Jeri said, smiling gently at him.

"Takato, as long as we're your friends, I promise you won't ever face whatever's coming alone," Henry promised, looking Dukemon straight in the eye.

"Now, come on gogglehead, trust us," Sakuyamon added, a gentle smile on her face.

Dukemon blinked.  Strange- Sakuyamon's face was distinctly different from Rika's own, but he could tell that the expression on Sakuyamon's face was Rika's.

Dukemon reached up, and Sakuyamon grabbed one hand, while Henry and Jeri held onto Dukemon's other hand.

"Thanks, guys," Dukemon said sincerely.  "I don't know what I would do without you guys."

"Probably step off a cliff," Sakuyamon answered, though the teasing tone in her voice softened the insult.  "Now, let's go, before anybody else wanders along."

Dukemon and Sakuyamon managed to pull Grani free of the dirt, and helped brush him off quickly, before Dukemon jumped on top, instinctively knowing how to balance now.

Henry, with Terriermon on his shoulder, climbed onto Grani's left wing, and then helped Jeri up, while Leomon climbed onto the other wing to balance out the two humans' weight.

Grani shook for a moment as it adjusted to the weight and then it took off across the river towards the other bank, with Sakuyamon flying alongside it.

Though she didn't say anything as they crossed the river, her mind was full of disturbing thoughts.

Rika had never been a good judge a character, not like her grandma, and she didn't analyze people's actions like Henry did sometimes.  But what she did know was that the boy she met back before Rivendell would've never attacked any of his friends; he would've died first.

She knew that Dukemon had been desperate to try to get away, but she had never thought that Takato would actually go so far as to strike her.

"Renamon, have you noticed anything different about Takato?" she asked in her mind, so that the others wouldn't hear.

"Yes, he is not as innocent as he was just a few weeks ago," Renamon answered, confirming Rika's suspicions.

"Do you think his Digivice is corrupting him?" Rika asked as he sneaked a sidelong glance at Dukemon.  Though Dukemon didn't have a mouct, he still projected expressions, and right now he looked determined.  But Rika also thought that there was a hint of desperation and madness in Dukemon, no, Takato's eyes.

"Maybe," Renamon answered, surprising Rika.  "I've heard tales of Digivices corrupting humans and Digimon, but usually they became insane almost immediately.  Lucemon's Nine Dark Lords were likewise corrupted when they received their Digivices, and the only reason why they aren't completely insane is because they are so tightly tied to Lucemon's will.  Takato's case is different, especially since he holds what is basically the core of Lucemon's power."

Rika thought back to when she probed Takato's soul, just after they had entered the Rivendell valley.  "You know, now that I think about, his soul felt a lot like a Digivice."  
  


"What?" Now it was Renamon's turn to be surprised.  "What do you mean by that?"

"He has a soul, of course, with his own little dreams, ambitions, but its type of power seemed just like a Digivice.  Also, I thought I detected a hint of Hazard power within him.  At first, I thought it was just because of his partner and their close link, but now I wonder…"

Rika's musings were interrupted by the only person there bold enough to crack jokes when there was still enemy armies wandering around.

"Hey Takato, Rika's staring at you," Terriermon said loudly, poking Dukemon's leg.  "And if I were you, I would definitely go for her while she's in that form, she's much more hotter than normal, rrrriiiiiiiggggghhhtt?"

Somehow, Dukemon's armored head actually blushed, and so did Sakuyamon.  She made a mental note.  Next time she started examining Takato for possible insanity, make sure the dog-rabbit wasn't around.

"Hm, think of the kids those two could have?  Let's see, a knight and a supermodel priestess would probably have-Ack!"

Terriermon's last word was caused by Sakuyamon grabbing him around the neck and starting to strangle him.

***

Tai looked at the fading flash of red as the Tamers ran up the slope on the opposite side of the river and disappeared from view.

"So they're gone, huh?" Matt asked as he walked up behind Tai, who nodded.

There was a crash in the trees, and then Cyberdramon landed, Ryo on his back, both with lots of gashes on their clothing.

"Hey guys, what I'd miss?" he asked curiously until he noticed that Grani was gone, along with part of their supplies.  "Hey, where did Takato go?"

Tai silently pointed across the river.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Ryo asked as he climbed on top of Cyberdramon again.  "We've got to go after him!"

"No, its better this way," Matt said, and Ryo suddenly realized that Matt was there and started drawing his sword before Tai gestured for him to stop.

"Don't worry, he's over it," Tai said, and Ryo slowly put his sword away, though still keeping an eye on Matt.  "And its kind of a good thing that he did try to take it at this point."

Matt looked startled.  "How can I breaking up the Fellowship be a good thing?"

"You were only the first to succumb to the temptation," Tai said.  "Eventually, I don't think any of us could've stopped ourselves from doing the same thing, and if this had happened in Mordor, then it would've definitely have ended with Lucemon getting his Digivice back.  Its better that we got past that obstacle while we still had time before the final stretch."

"I just hope Rika, Henry, and Jeri can hold out," Matt said.

"Hey, if I know that Wildcat, she will definitely stop herself from doing anything like that," Ryo said.  "And from what I've seen of Henry and Jeri, they'll be okay."

"They'd better be," Matt said, looking around at the clearing which was empty save for the three of them.  "They're our last hope."

Ryo noticed the lack of Tamers currently around, and then did a mental count.  "Hey, wait, where are Kazu and Kenta?  If they were here, they would be practically begging for my autograph."  Ryo shuddered at their continuing fan worship of him.

"Captured," Tai said, before turning away from the river and back towards the woods and the plains beyond.  "Some of Kari's forces, Digimon calling themselves Hybrids, managed to hold us long enough to capture Kazu and Kenta."

"I think that they wanted them as hostages, to try to force Takato to give up his Digivice," Matt said, remembering the conversation he had overheard while dying.  "Fat lot of good it does them now, since Takato probably doesn't even know what happened."

"So this is how the Fellowship ends," Ryo said.  "Not with a bang, but with a whimper."

"The Fellowship is over, but that doesn't mean we will abandon our friends," Tai said as he started gathering supplies.  "We owe it to Takato to take care of his friends, and I won't leave Kazu and Kenta in unfriendly hands."

Tai grabbed a bag with some of the solid the Elves had piped, their own patented Lambas bread, and dumping the rest of the food cards out.  They didn't need that many of them now, considering that they only had one person with a D-Arc still there.  

"Are you guys with me?" He held out one hand.

"You know it," Matt said, putting his hand on top of Tai's.

Ryo shrugged, and then added his own gloved hand.  "Why not?"

"That's it, then," Tai said.  "We'll save Kazu and Kenta, or die trying.  Now let's go!"

Before any of them could give a rousing war cry, Cyberdramon himself roared loudly and then started running off in a random direction.

Ryo sweatdropped and quickly pulled out his D-Arc.  An energy whip extended from it, and Ryo quickly tied it around Cyberdramon's neck.  "You should never say die around Cyberdramon, it drives him into a bloodlust and then he goes looking for the nearest thing to kill."

Ryo climbed onto Cyberdramon's back, and actually used the whip like a saddlestrap.  "Come on, let's go now.  I'll keep him under control, and chasing after these Hybrid guys should calm him down- I hope."

Tai and Matt looked slightly nervous at the prospect of traveling with such a crazy Digimon, but it looked like Ryo had it under control, so they both had their Digimon partners digivolve once, and then Greymon, Garurumon, and Cyberdramon ran in pursuit of lost friends.

***

Takato took one last step and they finally reached the top of the hill and saw what lay beyond.

"So that's Mordor," he said grimly.  Guilmon was already growling just after looking at the foul land.

"Henry, do you think we'll ever see the others again?" Jeri asked Henry quietly.

"I hope so," Henry said.  "I know that Tai will take care of them, but I really don't know if we'll make it out alive."

"Of course we will," Rika said, glancing at Takato quickly to gauge his reaction.  "The moment we start believing we'll die in Mordor, we will."

Takato gave a wan smile.  "Never though you would be giving pep talks, Rika."

"I'm not giving a pep talking, I'm making sure we survive this," she said bluntly, but then her expression softened.  "Takato, are you sure you can do it?  Can you really drop your D-Arc back into the chaos from which it was spawned?"  
  


"Of course," Takato said, his back to them so she couldn't see his face.  "What's so hard about letting go of a little trinket?"

"You'd be surprised," Henry said quietly, noticing where Rika was going with her questions.

Jeri looked between them worriedly, then patted Takato on one shoulder.  "I know you can, Takato."  
  


"Thanks, Jeri," Takato said, and Rika actually bristled.  Her own personally reason was that here they were trying to figure out how the gogglehead was doing, and then Jeri just ruined all of their questions.  It had nothing to do with the friendly manner between Jeri and Takato.  No, definitely not.

"There's always a chance," Takato murmured, still staring into the empty lands of Mordor.  For a moment, he thought that if he squinted enough he could see a burning eye between two claws on top of a tower, with a small angel hidden in the eye.

Then Rika whacked him in the head.  "Stop spacing out, gogglehead," she scolded.  "If you don't concentrate, then we all lose.  We need to be on our guard all the time while we're in there."

Takato shook his head to clear the cobwebs, and then smiled at Rika.  "Don't worry, I know I'll be fine as long as you're here."

Rika blushed at the statement, and Terriermon started to snicker, before he remembered the indentations still on his throat.

Takato looked at the two other humans there and said "I know that with all my friends, I'll be fine."

Rika sighed as she realized that Takato hadn't meant just her.

"Come on, let's go, we have a long way to go," Takato said, finally taking the first step.

He knew this wasn't the end.  It was only the end of one part of his journey and the start of another.

"May it be," he whispered, wishing for so many things and not knowing if any of them would come true.

Takato walked forward, knowing that as long as he had his friends, he could do anything.

**End of Book II**

Finally finished it, at long last.

Okay, first of all, thanks for all the reviews (wow, 80, yay!).  I checked them weekly, so that I wouldn't forget about this little project.

Trimon: You call over 50,000 words _litte_?!

Fine, fine.  Anyways, remember, school work is still more important (most of the time).

Now, several people asked whether this will be a Takari.  My honest answer as of right is: I don't know.

Trimon: I thought you liked Daikari more?  
  


*Holds up giant shield* I do, but I don't really like bashing any character, including TK or Ryo, since Davis got bashed so much in the dub, stupid dubbers…

TK isn't going to meet up with the rest of the main party till the third part.  Obviously, he's going to fill the role of Faramir.  I'm still trying to think of how to write the 2nd part, since the movie itself left out quite a few things from the book, which I assume are going to be resolved by the third move.  Anyways, I'll probably have Davis vs. Kari again, though I'm not sure how it'll end.  So, we'll see about the Takari/Daikari angle later, and I doubt I'll catch up with the movies before the Return of the King.  Sorry bout that, but my brain is maxed out about now, so to show I have finished something, I'm posting this chapter.  There are tons of typos in there (probably), but I'm too tired to find them now.  I'm going to add in more Digimon characters of course, change a few things back from movie-verse to book version, and some just for my own liking (I said this was an adaptation after all), and I'll probably throw in Jyoumi somewhere, Kenyako too, more Henry/Jeri, when I get more inspiration.  All other fic ideas are on hold while I work on this one.

Please read, and review, and see ya later.  Now, back to the candy.  I need another sugar rush for inspiration Trimon!

Trimon: Right!

See ya!


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